•r%H 


DR.  S.   G.  HOWE 


The   Philanthropist 


BY 

F.  B.  SANBORN 


FUNK    &  WAGNALLS 

NEW  YORK 

LONDON  TORONTO 

1891 

Printed  in  the  United  States  Au  Rigktf   Resermd 


REPLACING 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1891,  by 

FUNK    &   WAGNALI.S, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE. 


IN  writing  this  biography  of  Dr.  Howe,  I  have  kept 
in  view  two  or  three  things  of  which  it  may  be  well 
to  notify  my  readers.  As  the  family  of  Dr.  Howe 
are  preparing  a  more  extended  biography,  with 
many  extracts  from  letters  and  journals,  I  have  not 
made  much  use  of  these  sources  of  information, 
unless  I  found  them  in  print  at  the  time,  or  soon 
after  the  time,  when  they  were  written.  But  I  have 
made  free  use  of  the  memorial  volume  which  the 
friends  of  Dr.  Howe  printed  just  after  his  death,  in 
1876,  and  which  I  edited  for  the  Memorial  Com 
mittee.  For  that  volume  Mrs.  Howe  wrote,  at  our 
request,  a  short  memoir,  which  I  have  used,  without 
hesitation,  and  sometimes  without  acknowledgment, 
in  the  following  pages.  I  have  also  had  access  to  a 
great  mass  of  papers  concerning  John  Brown  and  his 
campaigns  in  Kansas  and  Virginia,  some  of  which, 
although  used  in  my  "  Life  and  Letters  of  John 
Brown  "  (Boston,  Roberts  Brothers,  1885),  I  have 
again  made  use  of  in  this  volume,  taking  the  material 
from  my  former  book  in  which  the  same  facts  were 
more  fully  set  forth.  I  have  added,  however,  some 
particulars,  concerning  Wendell  Phillips  and  Gov 
ernor  Andrew,  of  Massachusetts,  which  have  not 
before  been  made  public. 


IV  PREFACE. 

The  career  of  Dr.  Howe  covered  so  many  years  and 
so  many  exploits  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  leave 
untold  much  that  would  have  illustrated  his  character, 
and  would  have  added  material  facts  to  the  history 
of  his  life.  But  while  doing  this,  I  have  felt  at  lib 
erty  to  introduce  other  information,  little  known  or 
perhaps  entirely  forgotten,  if  it  threw  light  on  the 
period  of  which  I  was  writing,  or,  sometimes,  ex 
plained  the*  attitude  taken  by  Dr.  Howe  and  his 
friends,  at  critical  moments  of  the  political  conflict 
in  which  they  were  engaged  for  so  many  years. 
The  address  prepared  by  Daniel  Webster,  for  the 
Anti-Texas  Convention  at  Faneuil  Hall,  in  1845,  is 
the  longest  of  these  digressions  from  the  forward 
course  of  Dr.  Howe's  biography;  but  the  value  of  this 
paper,  and  the  varying  connection  of  its  author  with 
the  great  struggle  for  human  freedom  which  followed 
its  publication,  made  it  seem  needful  to  introduce  it. 
So  far  as  I  know,  it  has  never  been  reprinted  since 
1845,  and  the  fact  that  it  originated  with  Mr.  Web 
ster,  though  several  times  made  public,  has  hardly 
impressed  itself  on  our  political  history.  I  am 
indebted  to  Mr.  Stephen  H.  Phillips,  of  Salem,  for 
the  facts  concerning  it. 

I  have  quoted  the  language  of  Dr.  Howe  wherever 
I  could,  in  preference  to  using  my  own,  in  order  to 
exhibit  as  fully  as  possible  his  intellectual  character, 
to  which  his  writings  were  an  imperfect  index,  but 
an  indispensable  one.  Few  men  could  write  more 
forcibly  or  reason  more  logically  than  he  ;  and  yet 
scarcely  any  man  seemed,  at  times,  to  be  so  careless 
of  the  written  word  as  Dr.  Howe  was.  My  own 
acquaintance  with  him  began  in  1852,  and  was  very 


PREFACE.  v 

intimate  from  about  1856  until  his  death.  I  can, 
therefore,  speak  with  some  confidence  of  those  traits 
in  his  character  which  were  prominent  after  he 
reached  the  age  of  fifty  ;  but  for  his  youthful  career, 
I  have  depended  on  his  own  statements  to  me,  on  the 
testimony  of  others,  and  on  the  general  knowledge 
that  early  experiences  and  long-continued  observa 
tion  in  that  region  which  romantic  and  chivalrous 
natures  frequent,  may  have  given  me.  It  has  fallen 
to  my  lot  to  know,  both  in  youth  and  in  age,  several 
of  the  most  romantic  characters  of  our  century  ;  and 
among  these  one  of  the  most  romantic  was  certainly 
the  hero  of  these  pages.  That  he  was  indeed  a  hero, 
the  events  of  his  life  sufficiently  declare  ;  that  he  had 
other  traits  less  uncommon  and  more  practical,  I 
have  occasionally  intimated  in  the  course  of  this  nar 
ration.  Like  his  nature,  his  fortunes  were  romantic  ; 
and  very  few  men  of  our  century — hardly  even  Gari 
baldi  or  John  Brown — have  connected  their  names 
with  so  much  that  was  at  once  adventurous,  momen 
tous,  and  permanently  successful. 

My  thanks  are  especially  due  to  Mrs.  Howe  and 
her  daughters,  to  Dr.  Michael  Anagnos,  her  son- 
in-law,  and  to  Dr.  Howe's  dear  friend  and  my  own, 
Mr.  Francis  William  Bird,  of  East  Walpole,  for 
invaluable  aid  in  performing  what  has  been  to  all  of 
us  a  labor  of  love. 

F.  B.  SANBORN. 

CONCORD,  MASS.,  August  i,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  FIRST— YOUTHFUL   DARING,  11-106. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Childhood  and  Youth 1 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Chevalier  Earning  His  Spurs 23 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Romance  of  the  Cavern  on  Parnassus 36 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Scenes  of  War  and  Peace  in  Greece 48 

CHAPTER  V. 
Dr.  Howe  as  a  Historian 65 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Dr.  Howe  Colonizes  Corinth 78 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Imprisonment  in  Berlin 88 

BOOK  SECOND— PHILANTHROPIC  DEVOTION, 

108-183. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Boston  in  the  Days  of  Jackson 1 1 1 

VI 


CONTENTS.  VII 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Blind  Asylum 125 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Wondrous  Story  of  Laura  Bridgman 145 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Dr.  Howe's  School  for  Idiots 168 

CHAPTER  V. 
Dr.  Howe's  Universal  Philanthropy 170 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Marriage  and  Visit  to  Europe 175 

BOOK  THIRD— POLITICAL  CONFLICT,  185-276. 

• 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Insolence  of  the  Slaveholders 187 

CHAPTER  II. 
Texas,  Webster,  and  Slavery 191 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Mexican  War  and  Prison  Discipline 211  v 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Dr.  Howe  Stands  up  to  be  Shot  at 228 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Fugitive  Slave  Act  in  Boston 232 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate 247 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Kansas  Contest  and  John  Brown 254  / 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  FOURTH—THE  COUNCILS  OF  ACTIVE  AGE, 

278-350. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Civil  War  and  Its  Meaning  for  Dr.  Howe 281 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Nestor  and  Achilles  of  Public  Charities 291 

CHAPTER  III. 
Dr.  Howe  and  the  Cretans,  1867 309 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Quixotic  Santo  Domingo  Episode 323 

CHAPTER  V. 
Age,  Infirmity,  and  Death 335 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Character  and  Results 347 


BOOK    FIRST. 
YOUTHFUL    DARING. 

1801-1832. 


THE    MAIDEN. 

'  O  for  a  knight  like  Bayard, 

Without  reproach  or  fear  ; 
My  light  glove  on  his  casque  of  steel, 
My  love-knot  on  his  spear  ! 

'  O  for  the  white  plume  floating 
Sad  Zutphen's  field  above, — 
The  lion  heart  in  battle, 

The  woman's  heart  in  love  !" 

THE    POET. 

'  Smile  not,  fair  unbeliever  ! 

One  man,  at  least,  I  know, 

Might  wear  the  crest  of  Bayard 

Or  Sidney's  plume  of  snow. 

Wherever  outraged  nature 

Asks  word  or  action  brave, 
Wherever  struggles  labor, 

Wherever  groans  a  slave, — 

Wherever  rise  the  peoples, 

Wherever  sinks  a  throne, 
The  throbbing  heart  of  Freedom  finds 

An  answer  in  his  own." 

WHITTIER  (  J^he  Hero). 


DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 


i. 


CHILDHOOD    AND    YOUTH. 

DR.  HOWE,  like  Dr.  Franklin,  was  born  in  Bos 
ton,  something  less  than  a  century  after  that  world- 
renowned  printer,  philosopher,  and  statesman  saw  the 
light,  and  not  quite  twelve  years  after  Franklin's 
death.  His  birthday  was  November  10,  1801  ;  his 
parents  were  of  the  same  sturdy  middle  class  to 
which  Josiah  Franklin  and  Abigail  Folger  belonged, 
and  their  names  were  Joseph  Howe  and  Patty  Grid- 
ley.  His  father  was  a  rope-maker,  whose  business 
became  very  large  at  one  time,  especially  during  the 
war  with  England,  when  he  furnished  the  National 
Government  with  great  quantities  of  cordage  for  the 
navy  which,  under  Hull,  Decatur,  and  Stewart,  won 
such  renown  in  fighting  the  hitherto  invincible  Brit 
ish  armed  vessels.  Mrs.  Howe  was  connected  with 
the  more  distinguished  family  of  Jeremy  and  Richard 
Gridley — the  former  attorney-general  of  the  royal 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  latter,  a 
soldier  and  engineer,  who  served  at  the  taking  of 
Louisburg  by  Sir  William  Pepperrell  in  1745,  con- 


12  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

structed  the  fortifications  of  Col.  Prescott  at  Bunker 
Hill,  in  1775,  and  had  his  share  in  the  siege-works  by 
which  Washington  in  1776  forced  the  British  army  to 
evacuate  Boston.  It  was  from  his  mother  that  Dr. 
Howe  inherited  his  singular  beauty  of  person  in 
youth;  and  from  that  martial  family  came  also,  per 
haps,  his  love  of  adventure  and  his  courage  in  war. 
His  father  was  a  just  and  frugal  man,  of  strong  dem 
ocratic  opinions,  which  were  not  then  fashionable  in 
Boston  ;  and  for  this  reason  he  did  not  educate  his 
famous  son  at  Harvard  College,  which  was  then 
under  strong  Federalist  influences.  But  he  first  sent 
him  to  the  grammar  school,  "  that  his  life  might  be 
rooted  in  the  common  ground  with  his  fellow-citizens." 
This  school  was  originally  one  whose  course  of 
instruction  was  laid  down  in  1784  by  a  committee  of 
which  Samuel  Adams  was  a  member.  Dilworth's 
spelling-book,  containing  a  brief  treatise  on  English 
grammar,  was  the  only  text-book  first  required. 
Arithmetic  included  vulgar  and  decimal  fractions  ; 
while  the  Bible  and  Psalter  were  the  only  reading- 
books.  In  1812  he  entered  the  Latin  School,  a  pecu 
liar  Boston  institution,  founded  in  the  very  earliest 
period  of  her  history,  and  very  serviceable  for  centu 
ries  in  keeping  up  the  standard  of  classical  learning  ; 
but  this  also  was  then  controlled  by  the  same  partisan 
influences  which  prevailed  at  Harvard. 

It  was  a  period  when  political  faction  raged  fiercely 
in  the  nation,  and  especially  in  Boston.  The  French 
Revolution  had  aroused  the  greatest  activity  of 
thought  on  political  and  social  questions,  and  the 
party  divisions  of  that  day  represented  opposite  sides 
of  the  most  important  problems  of  social  and  politi- 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  13 

cal  economy.  While  the  Democrats  held  those  gener 
ous  views  which  captivate  the  young  mind,  on  the 
other  side  was  an  august  array  of  personal  character 
and  historic  reputation  ;  so  that,  as  Emerson  after 
wards  said,  "  One  party  had  the  best  ideas  and  the 
other  the  best  men."  All  the  boys  in  the  Latin  School 
at  one  period  of  young  Howe's  course  there  were 
Federalists  but  two  or  three  ;  and  these  were  set  upon 
one  day  by  the  tyrannical  majority,  and  threatened 
with  severe  castigation  if  they  did  not  forswear  dem 
ocracy  and  denounce  Madison  and  the  war  of  1812. 
One  of  the  persecuted  minority  yielded  to  the  inquis 
ition  ;  but  Sam  Howe,  though  only  twelve  years  old, 
held  his  opinions  too  firmly  to  be  driven  out  of  them, 
and  was  hurried  to  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  thrown 
down  headlong  with  no  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  Principal,  Benjamin  Apthorp  Gould;  of  whose 
rough  manners  and  discipline  he  always  retained  a 
vivid  recollection.  He  used  to  relate  that,  having 
once  caught  him  in  some  offence,  the  master  pro 
ceeded  to  correct  him  severely  with  a  ferule,  saying 
that  he  would  make  him  cry.  The  little  boy  at  first 
resisted  by  an  effort  of  will  ;  then,  as  the  pain  became 
extreme,  his  excitement  and  indignation  were  so 
great,  that  the  tears  refused  to  flow,  and  the  poor 
little  hand  was  beaten  almost  to  a  jelly. 

During  his  school  life,  the  British  cruisers  could  be 
daily  seen  in  the  harbor,  and  volunteer  companies 
were  engaged  in  defending  commerce  and  in  build 
ing  forts.  One  day  Master  Gould,  who  was  a  patriot, 
although  a  Federalist,  took  his  boys  out  to  spend  the 
school  hours  in  helping  to  throw  up  defences  against 
the  enemy  at  Noddle's  Island,  now  East  Boston. 


14  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Howe's  home  was  on  Pleasant  street,  not  far  from 
where  the  Providence  Station  now  is,  and  his  father's 
rope-walk  was  on  the  Back  Bay,  where  now  the  Pub 
lic  Garden  extends.  The  city  was  then  but  a  town 
of  35,000  people  (in  1813),  including  only  the  penin 
sula,  and  answering  well  to  Emerson's  description  of 
it  : 

"  The  rocky  nook,  with  hill-tops  three, 
Looked  eastward  from  the  farms, 
And  twice  each  day  the  flowing1  sea 
Took  Boston  in  its  arms." 

Nature  yet  lay  all  about  it  ;  and  the  homely  little 
town  itself  was  like  a  family  association,  where  every 
man  knew  his  neighbor.  The  Common  was  still  the 
training-ground  and  cow-pasture,  and  the  boys 
roamed  freely  over  it,  with  no  caution  to  "  keep  off 
the  grass."  In  the  Back  Bay,  with  its  shallow  waters 
which  deepened  dangerously  as  the  tide  came  in,  Sam 
Howe  was  once  paddling  about  on  a  plank  or  a  cake 
of  ice,  or  in  a  rude  bateau,  such  as  Ellery  Channing 
kept  moored  there  a  few  years  later,  when  he  fell  in, 
and  just  escaped  drowning.  He  was  fished  out  and 
carried  to  his  father's  great  rope-walk  near  by  ;  when 
the  stern  parent  bade  him  "  run  home  and  tell  your 
mother  to  whip  you."  In  his  later  years,  when  he 
told  his  children  and  grandchildren  this  story,  he 
used  to  add  :  "I  ran  home,  but  my  mother  did  not 
whip  me,"  and  the  tone  of  his  voice  expressed  the 
safety  and  sweetness  of  that  mother's  love,  which  the 
passage  of  years  and  the  scenes  of  a  life  crowded  with 
interest  had  only  made  dearer  and  more  wonderful  to 
him.  His  father  was  a  man  of  sense,  but  of  whims 
and  strong  prejudices.  When  it  was  time  to  send 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  15 

one  of  his  sons  to  college,  he  decided  the  choice 
between  them  in  an  odd  manner.  Mrs.  Hall,  Dr. 
Howe's  eldest  surviving  child,  says:1 

"  He  called  up  his  sons  and  bade  them  each  read 
aloud  from  the  big  family  Bible — the  one  who  read 
best  was  to  go  to  college.  My  father  won  the  day 
without  much  difficulty,  I  imagine,  for  he  always 
read  aloud  with  much  feeling,  and  yet  very  simply. 
What  a  treat  it  used  to  be  to  us,  his  children,  when  in 
later  years  he  read  aloud  to  us  Scott's  poetry,  of 
which  he  was  extremely  fond.  Even  we  girls 
felt  a  warlike  spirit  stir  within  us  as  he  read  the  war- 
song  of 

"  Roderigh  Vich  Alpine  dhu,  ho  !  ieroe  !  " 

while  we  could  hardly  keep  back  our  tears  when  he 
read  the  tender  and  gentle  passages  of  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  or  that  exquisite  song  from  "  Rokeby," 
"  O,  Lady,  weave  no  wreath  for  me, 
Or  weave  it  of  the  cypress-tree." 

Howe  entered  at  Brown  University  in  1817,  the 
same  year  that  Waldo  Emerson,  eighteen  months 
younger,  entered  at  Harvard,  and  the  two  Boston 
boys  of  genius  graduated  in  the  same  year,  1821. 
Neither  distinguished  himself  greatly  in  college,  ex 
cept  that  Howe,  in  his  little  college  at  Providence, 
among  the  earnest  Baptists,  was  noted  for  pranks 
and  penalties.  Rev.  Dr.  Caswell,  who  was  afterwards 
President  of  the  same  college,  thus  described  his 
appearance  and  conduct  there: 

"Dr.  Howe,  though  a  younger  man  than  myself, 
graduated  one  year  before  me.  We  were  three  years 

1  The  Wide  Awake  (Boston,  November,  1890,  p.  341). 


l6  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

together  in  the  university.  I  knew  him  well,  and 
esteemed  him  highly  for  many  marked  traits  of  char 
acter.  He  was  a  mere  stripling,  but  nature  had  been 
generous  in  giving  him  an  attractive  physique.  He 
was  of  middling  height,  slender  in  form,  erect,  agile, 
and  elastic  in  his  movements.  With  fine  features,  a 
fresh,  pink  complexion,  a  keen  blue  eye,  full  of  pur 
pose  and  meaning,  and  of  mirth  as  well  ;  with  open, 
frank,  and  genial  manners,  he  could  not  fail  to  win 
the  kind  regard  of  his  youthful  companions.  He 
showed  mental  capabilities  which  would  naturally  fit 
him  for  fine  scholarship.  His  mind  was  quick,  ver 
satile,  and  inventive.  I  do  not  think  he  was  deficient 
in  logical  power,  but  the  severer  studies  did  not  seem 
to  be  congenial  to  him.  In  all  practical  matters  he 
saw  intuitively  and  at  a  glance  what  was  the  best 
thing  to  be  done.  In  any  strait  or  difficulty,  or 
any  sudden  emergency  of  danger,  if  there  was  any 
possible  way  of  escape,  nobody  need  inform  him  what 
it  was.  Before  anybody  else  had  time  to  think,  his 
plan  was  formed. 

"  He  had  a  full  share  of  general  knowledge,  without 
exact  scholarship.  His  college  life  strikingly  devel 
oped  some  of  the  mental  characteristics  which  ulti 
mately  made  him  what  he  was.  In  some  men  wit  is 
spontaneous  and  irrepressible.  It  would  be  as  im 
possible  to  suppress  a  good  joke,  or  a  keen  repartee, 
as  to  suppress  the  law  of  gravitation.  On  the  con 
trary,  there  are  many  sensible  men  who  never  laugh 
at  a  joke  or  a  witticism,  however  brilliant,  for  the 
reason  that,  innocently  enough,  they  see  nothing  to 
laugh  at.  Their  perceptions  are  shut  up  to  plain 
matters  of  fact.  Dr.  Howe,  with  a  heart  as  good  and 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  17 

generous,  as  free  from  malice  and  evil  as  any  man's, 
— unless  we  except  those  few  rare  characters  who  are 
too  good  to  live  in  such  a  world  as  this — had,  never 
theless,  an  insatiable  fondness  for  fun  and  frolic,  and 
a  good  practical  joke.  Tricks  are  proverbial  in  col 
leges.  And  in  almost  every  college  there  will  be  some 
one  whose  natural  endowments,  with  a  little  practice, 
make  him  an  acknowledged  leader.  Dr.  Howe  rather 
belonged  to  this  class.  With  singular  sagacity,  he 
saw  every  opportunity  of  producing  a  sensation,  and 
breaking  up  the  dull  routine  of  college  life,  and  it 
was  no  sooner  seen  than  embraced;  no  matter  upon 
whom  the  laugh  turned,  whether  upon  a  classmate  or 
a  tutor,  or  upon  the  venerable  head  of  the  university 
himself.  On  such  occasions  his  invention,  and  ex 
pedients,  and  adroitness  were  matters  for  study  and 
surprise.  He  was  himself  very  modest  and  taciturn 
with  regard  to  any  merit  or  cleverness  of  these  inci 
dental  performances.  His  own  impression  seemed  to 
be  that  they  were  merely  common  place  affairs,  and 
that  anybody  else  would  succeed  as  well  as  he. 

"  For  some  misdemeanors  attributed  to  him,  he  was 
once  or  twice  sent  into  the  country — "  rusticated  " 
was  the  term — to  study  a  few  weeks  with  some  staid 
minister,  who  retained  some  knowledge  of  the  curri 
culum  of  college  studies.  But  this  temporary  exile 
did  not  sensibly  diminish  his  resources  in  this  line  of 
amusement.  In  fact,  it  rather  increased  them.  The 
pent-up  energies,  which  it  were  unseemly  to  expend 
upon  a  plain  country  minister  and  his  family,  found 
a  ready  outlet  in  college.  It  is  certain  that  the  pulsa 
tions  of  college  life  were  quickened  by  his  return  from 
exile. 


1 8  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

"I  may  here  give  the  outline  of  a  single  anecdote, 
which  I  have  more  than  once  heard  Dr.  Howe  relate 
with  graphic  effect.  It  shows  the  impression  which 
he  left  behind  him.  Some  years  after  Howe  had  left 
college,  and  after  he  had  become  widely  and  favor 
ably  known  to  the  public,  he  was  in  Providence 
attending  the  annual  commencement.  He  thought 
he  would  call  on  his  old  president,  Dr.  Messer,  then 
living  in  retirement,  and  apologize  to  him  for  the 
trouble  he  had  given  him  while  in  college,  and  the 
many  interruptions  to  his  nightly  repose — for,  in 
truth  he  bore  no  malice,  and  always  had  a  kindly 
feeling  towards  the  good  Doctor.  He  called,  but  the 
venerable  instructor  of  his  youth  received  him  with 
evident  marks  of  distrust,  requested  him  to  be 
seated,  but  took  a  seat  himself  at  a  respectful  distance. 
Howe  commenced  his  apology,  when  the  good  Doctor, 
moving  his  chair  a  little  further  back,  said:  "  Howe, 
I'm  afraid  of  you  now.  I'm  afraid  there  will  be  a 
torpedo  under  my  chair  before  I  know  it." 

"Dr.  Howe  regretted  his  waste  of  time,  and  the  loss 
of  precious  opportunities  ;  but  said  in  explanation, 
that  before  he  had  been  many  months  in  college,  he 
found  that  he  was  suspected  of  all  the  mischief  there, 
when,  in  fact,  but  a  small  part  of  it  was  his.  His 
honest  and  truthful  statements  were  set  aside  and 
disregarded,  and  he  was  made  a  sort  of  college  scape 
goat  to  bear  off  the  sins  of  others.  Under  that  state 
of  things,  he  felt  a  greater  freedom  in  displaying  his 
skill,  and  keeping  up  his  reputation,  than  he  could 
otherwise  have  justified  A  little  parental  advice,  a 
little  kindly  treatment,  and,  more  than  all,  a  little 
confidence  in  his  honor  and  honesty,  would  have  done, 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  19 

more  to  correct  his  foibles,  than  all  the  college  cen 
sures  that  could  be  imposed  upon  him. 

"He  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  college  associates. 
His  presence  was  always  welcome  among  them.  He 
had  a  certain  indefinable  magnet-power  that  drew 
them  round  him.  They  were  proud  of  his  singular 
success  in  an  original  and  untrodden  path  of  benevo 
lence.  No  one  doubted  that  his  extraordinary  men 
tal  activity,  and  his  large  executive  capacity,  would 
lead  to  distinction  in  some  way.  But  in  what  way, 
none  could  conjecture.  Few,  probably,  anticipated 
that  he  would  become  an  eminent  philanthropist,  and 
that  his  life  would  be  nobly  given  to  the  relief  and 
comfort  of  the  unfortunate." 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  young  collegian 
wholly  wasted  his  time.  He  had  been  well-drilled  in 
Latin  in  Boston,  and  had  learned  something  of  Greek 
and  of  French;  and  his  graduation  left  him  a  good 
Latin  scholar  for  that  period,  and  with  the  rudi 
ments  of  that  polyglot  facility  in  modern  languages, 
including  the  degenerate  Greek  of  the  Morea  in  1824, 
which  he  afterwards  acquired.  His  acquaintance  with 
French  became  masterly,  and  he  was  fairly  versed  in 
German,  Italian,  and  Turkish  ;  of  Spanish  he  had 
some  scantling,  and  neither  Scandinavian  nor  Rus 
sian  were  quite  unknown  to  him.  His  mind  was 
a  scholar's  instrument;  intuitive,  analytic,  and  quick 
to  proceed  from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  Prob 
ably  the  French  people,  and  the  Greeks,  who  are  the 
French  of  the  Levant,  had  the  strongest  influence  upon 
his  style,  which  was  livelier  and  keener  than  English 
is  usually  found,  far  more  so  than  the  New  England 
rhetoric  of  his  boyhood  and  youth.  But  in  English 


20  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

he  had  read  all  the  great  books — the  Bible,  Shake 
speare,  Milton,  Bunyan,  and  the  poets  of  his  own 
times;  especially  Scott,  Campbell,  Moore,  and  Byron. 
He  wrote  rapidly,  nervously,  and  rather  impatiently; 
as  the  letters  to  be  quoted  in  the  next  chapter  suffici 
ently  show. 

A  great  influence  in  Dr.  Howe's  college  days,  and 
for  years  afterward,  was  Edward  Everett,  who  had 
returned  from  Germany  full  of  enthusiasm  for  learn 
ing  and  had  associated  himself  at  Harvard  College 
with  two  older  professors,  Edward  Channing,  brother 
of  the  celebrated  divine,  and  George  Ticknor,  who 
preceded  Longfellow  and  Lowell  in  their  fruitful 
professorship  of  modern  languages  at  Cambridge. 
It  was  with  a  letter  from  Everett  that  young  Howe 
sailed  for  Greece  in  1824,  and  their  acquaintance  in 
the  narrow  circle  of  Boston  society  may  have  been 
intimate,  as  their  correspondence  afterwards  became. 
Everett's  indifference  to  the  great  anti  -  slavery 
struggle  (in  which  Howe  embarked  in  middle  life), 
destroyed  so  much  of  his  personal  influence  after 
1850,  that  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  his  eloquence 
aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  Emerson  and  Howe,  of 
Elizabeth  Peabody  and  Margaret  Fuller.  But  Ever 
ett  had  not  then  lost  the  faith  and  love  of  youth,  and 
he  may  have  helped  young  men  to  that  temperance 
of  thought  and  sobriety  of  manner  which  blend  hap 
pily  with  earnestness  and  enthusiasm.  Dr.  Channing 
in  1820  was  preaching  in  his  Federal  Street  Church, 
and  Everett,  leaving  his  pulpit  in  Boston,  had  become 
a  professor  at  Cambridge,  from  which  town  he  en 
tered  Congress  in  1825,  and  in  due  time  became  Gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts.  Of  his  appearance  and  man- 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  21 

ner  at  that  period  when  Howe  came  under  his  spell, 
Emerson  has  left  us  the  most  pleasing  description. 

"There  was  an  influence  on  young  people  in  Bos 
ton,  from  the  genius  of  Everett,  which  was  almost 
comparable  to  that  of  Pericles  in  Athens.  He  had  an 
inspiration  which  did  not  go  beyond  his  head,  but 
which  made  him  the  master  of  elegance.  If  any  of 
my  readers  were  at  that  period  in  Boston  or  Cam 
bridge,  they  will  easily  remember  his  radiant  beauty 
of  person,  of  a  classic  style  ;  his  heavy  large  eye, 
marble  lids  which  gave  the  impression  of  mass 
that  the  slightness  of  his  form  needed  ;  sculptured 
lips;  a  voice  of  such  rich  tones,  such  precise  and  per 
fect  utterance,  that,  although  slightly  nasal,  it  was  the 
most  mellow  and  beautiful  and  correct  of  all  the 
instruments  of  the  time.  The  word  that  he  spoke,  in 
the  manner  in  which  he  spoke  it,  became  current  and 
classical  in  New  England.  .  .  .  He  had  nothing  in 
common  with  vulgarity  or  infirmity;  but,  speak 
ing,  walking,  sitting,  was  as  much  aloof  and  uncom 
mon  as  a  star.  The  smallest  anecdote  of  his  conver 
sation  or  behavior  was  eagerly  caught  and  repeated  ; 
and  every  young  scholar  could  recite  brilliant  sen 
tences  from  his  sermons,  with  mimicry,  good  or  bad, 
of  his  voice.  Every  youth  was  his  defender,  and  boys 
filled  their  mouths  with  arguments  to  prove  that  the 
orator  had  a  heart." 

Returning  from  Providence  to  Boston  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1821,  Howe  became  a  medical  student  with 
Dr.  Ingalls,  who  was  then  conspicuous  among  the 
good  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Boston — the  list 
including  Dr.  John  Jeffries,  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  Dr. 
James  Jackson,  Dr.  Walter  Channing,  and  Dr.  Jacob 


22  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Bigelow.  Several  of  these  were  his  teachers  in  medi 
cine,  and  another,  who  was  then  well  known  for  his 
learning  and  his  special  acquaintance  with  insanity — 
Dr.  George  Parkman — who,  thirty  years  later  was 
unhappily  famous  as  the  victim  of  a  murder  ;  his 
assassin  being  a  Harvard  professor,  Dr.  Webster. 
Howe  learned  rapidly,  studied  more  seriously  than  he 
had  in  college,  and  in  1824  took  his  medical  degree 
at  Harvard,  in  a  class  of  seventeen,  of  which  he  was 
the  only  distinguished  member.  He  never  practised 
to  any  extent  in  Boston,  however,  but  in  1824,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  he  obtained  his  father's  reluctant 
consent,  together  with  a  small  sum  of  money,  and  set 
sail  for  Greece,  to  take  part  in  the  bloody  contest 
then  waging  in  the  country  of  Leonidas  and 
Epaminondas, 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CHEVALIER    EARNING    HIS    SPURS. 

BYRON  had  roused  all  Europe  and  America,  a  dozen 
years  before,  to  the  glory,  the  beauty,  and  the  tragedy 
of  the  Grecian  lands  ;  and  in  his  "  Don  Juan,"  which 
came  out  while  Howe  was  in  college,  he  had  returned 
to  the  theme  of  his  early  inspiration.  Howe,  like 
Emerson,  and  like  all  young  men  of  imagination  at 
that  period,  was  an  admirer  of  Byron,  and  shared  his 
enthusiasm  for  Greece  ;  and  now  there  was  new 
cause  to  admire  her  people. 

In  1821,  the  year  in  which  Howe  graduated,  the 
Christian  world  was  electrified  to  hear  that  Greece, 
which  for  centuries  had  ceased  to  be  anything  more 
than  what  Metternich  called  Italy,  "  a  geographical 
expression,"  had  turned  on  her  oppressor,  and  was 
struggling  for  independence.  "  Greek  youths  had 
been  studying  in  German  universities,  and  had  there 
learned  of  the  glories  of  their  ancestry,  and  caught 
from  Gothic  lips  the  old  Hellenic  fire.  A  Greek 
scholar  and  bishop  had  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
in  the  Morea,  and  all  along  the  glorious  Peninsula, 
from  Corinth  to  Athens,  and  from  Athens  to  Olym 
pus,  the  whisper  ran  '  that  Greece  might  still  be  free,' 
and  the  resolution  was  formed  that  free  she  should 


24  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

be,  if  resistance  unto  death  could  make  her  so."  In 
Western  Europe,  and  especially  in  Germany,  there 
was  among  scholars  an  intense  sympathy  with  the 
struggling  patriots.  A  Leipzig  professor  published  a 
thesis,  "  The  Cause  of  Greece  the  Cause  of  Europe," 
and  preached  a  new  crusade  against  the  Mussulman. 
Notably  Lord  Byron,  chief  of  English  philhellenes, 
threw  his  sword  into  the  scale  of  their  doubtful  for 
tunes,  and  on  the  soil  which  his  grandest  strains  had 
celebrated,  earned,  as  he  said, — 

"  Less  often  sought  than  found, 
A  soldier's  grave." 

In  the  year  when  that  grave  was  found,  when  Gre 
cian  earth  had  received  what  was  mortal  of  the 
mighty  poet,  in  1824,  Dr.  Howe,  having  finished  his 
preparatory  medical  studies,  offered  his  services  to 
the  patriot  army.  * 

Byron  left  Genoa  for  Greece  in  June,  1823,  but  he 
lingered  long  in  Corfu,  and  did  not  reach  Missolonghi 
on  the  west  coast  of  Acarnania,  until  January  5,  1825. 
He  was  accompanied  by  Trelawny,  the  romantic 
and  herculean  Cornish  gentleman  who  had  begun  life 
as  a  midshipman  under  Nelson,  then  turned  pirate, 
then  man  of  letters,  and  finally  found  his  vocation  as 
the  friend  and  chronicler  of  Shelley  and  Byron.  He 
long  survived  them  both,  and  his  ashes  are  now  buried 
beside  Shelley's  in  the  beautiful  Protestant  cemetery 
at  Rome,  near  the  Pyramid  of  Caius  Cestius.  Byron 
did  not  live  long  enough  to  go  with  Trelawny  to 
visit  the  famous  chieftain  Odysseus  at  Salona,  near 
Delphi;  but  died  of  fever  at  Missolonghi,  in  April, 


1  Address  of  Dr.  F.  H.  Hedge  at  Dr.  Howe's  funeral,  1876. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  25 

1824,  some  months  before  Howe's  arrival  at  Navarino. 
Trelawny  went  on  into  Central  Greece,  became  in 
timate  with  Odysseus,  married  his  sister,  and  was  left 
by  him  in  charge  of  his  stronghold,  a  cavern  on  Par 
nassus,  not  many  miles  from  Lebadea  in  Bceotia ; 
where,  in  May,  1825,  Howe,  with  a  party  of  Greek 
soldiers  endeavored  to  capture  Trelawny,  as  will  be 
related  hereafter.  But  so  much  was  to  be  said  here, 
inasmuch  as  rumor  and  romance  have  represented 
that  Byron  and  Howe  fought  side  by  side  in  Greece. 
In  fact  they  never  met. 

Concerning  Dr.  Howe's  motives  for  this  serious  de 
parture  from  a  Boston  physician's  usual  course,  Mrs. 
Howe  says: 

"  The  example  of  Lord  Byron  had  given  a  high  po 
etic  sanction  to  the  crusade  of  the  philhellenes,  and  this 
no  doubt  had  its  weight  with  our  young  hero,  who 
was  a  passionate  admirer  of  the  English  bard.  But 
the  same  enthusiasm  for  human  freedom,  the  same 
zeal  for  human  deliverance,  appearing  in  every  im 
portant  act  of  his  later  life,  attests  the  originality  and 
fervor  of  his  philanthropic  inspiration.  Dr.  Howe 
found  in  those  about  him  little  encouragement  for  an 
undertaking  so  new  and  unaccustomed.  He  used  to 
mention  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  distinguished  painter, 
with  gratitude,  as  almost  the  only  friend  of  those  days 
who  bade  him  Godspeed.  Strong  in  his  own  con 
viction  and  intention,  he  embarked  on  board  a  brig 
bound  for  the  Mediterranean,  and,  landing  at  Malta, 
took  passage  in  an  Austrian  vessel  to  Napoli  de  Mon- 
embasia  (Navarino)  in  the  Peloponnesus.  From  this 
place,  he  succeeded  in  pushing  his  way  to  the  head 
quarters  of  the  provincial  government,  assisted  only 


26  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

by  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Edward  Everett  to  a 
Greek  acquaintance  of  his,  formerly  resident  in  Ger 
many."  1 

Dr.  Howe  landed  near  Navarino,  and  made  his  ap 
pearance  at  Tripolitsa  in  the  autumn  of  1824.  He 
says  in  his  autobiography: 

"In  the  winter,  the  much-dreaded  expedition  of 
Ibrahim  Pacha,  with  the  Egyptian  army,  landed  at 
Modon.  Attempts  were  made  by  the  Greek  govern 
ment  to  get  up  an  army  to  oppose  them,  and  Mavro- 
cordato  accepted  my  offer  to  go  with  them  as  surgeon. 
The  President  and  Mavrocordato  came  to  the  south 
of  Peloponnesus  with  such  forces  as  they  could  raise. 
At  first  there  was  an  attempt  to  organize  the  army, 
and  I  attempted  to  create  hospitals  and  to  organize 
ambulances  for  the  wounded.  But  after  the  capture 
of  Navarino  by  the  Turks,  everything  was  thrown  into 
confusion.  Mavrocordato  fled  to  Napoli  de  Romania. 
The  dark  days  of  Greece  had  come.  All  regular  op 
position  of  the  Greeks  was  overcome.  The  Turks 
advanced  fiercely  and  rapidly  up  the  Peloponnesus. 
I  joined  one  of  the  small  guerilla  bands  that  hung 
about  the  enemy,  doing  all  the  harm  they  could.  I 
could  be  of  little  or  no  use  as  surgeon,  and  was  ex 
pected  to  divide  my  attention  between  killing  Turks, 
helping  Greeks,  and  taking  care  of  my  bacon.  I  was 
naturally  very  hardy,  active,  and  tough,  and  soon  be 
came  equal  to  any  of  the  mountain  soldiery  in  capac 
ity  for  endurance  of  fatigue,  hunger,  and  watchful 
ness.  I  could  carry  my  gun  and  heavy  belt,  with  ya- 


1  Glarakis,  whom  Dr.  Howe  mentions  with  praise  in  his  "  His 
tory  of  the  Greek  Revolutian." 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  27 

tagan  and  pistols,  all  day  long,  clambering  among  the 
mountain  passes;  could  eat  sorrel  and  snails,  or  go 
without  anything,  and  at  night  lie  down  on  the  ground 
with  only  my  shaggy  capote,  and  sleep  like  a  log."1 

Mavrocordato  was  the  well-known  prince  of  that 
name  who  was  as  much  at  the  head  of  the  Greek  revo 
lutionary  government  as  any  of  the  dozen  or  twenty 
chieftains,  sailors,  or  merchants,  who  held  that  posi 
tion  from  time  to  time.  It  was  he  who  received  By 
ron  at  Missolonghi,  where  Mavrocordato  had  landed 
from  Marseilles,  in  June,  1821,  with  arms,  ammuni 
tion,  and  a  number  of  young  Frenchmen,  eager  to  win 
glory  in  the  revolution  that  was  then  beginning.  He 
was  made  President  of  the  Executive  Council  in  1822, 
and  he  continued,  in  various  stations,  to  take  a  lead 
ing  part  in  the  government  of  Greece  until  his 
final  retirement  from  public  life  in  1856.  He  was 
ten  years  older  than  Dr.  Howe,  and  he  died  in  1865. 

When  he  left  Boston  Dr.  Howe  had  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  modern  Greek,  which  was  then  a  jargon 
much  less  resembling  the  language  of  Pericles  than 
it  does  to-day.  His  acquaintance  with  classic  Greek 
was  not  extensive,  nor  could  it  help  him  much,  be 
cause  nobody  then  pronounced  it  by  accent  in  Amer 
ica,  while  the  Greeks  themselves,  besides  the  other 
variations,  accented  every  word  as  it  was  written.  He 
related,  with  a  blush,  in  after  years,  that  the  first 
phrase  which  he  fairly  understood,  was  a  compliment 
to  himself,  uttered  by  an  old  chieftain  to  one  of  his 
men,  as  they  lay  about  the  camp-fire  in  Arcadia.  "What 


1  From  a   letter  to  Horace  Mann,  written  in  1857,  which  is  the 
only  autobiography  of  Dr.  Howe  extant. 


28  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

a  handsome  youth!  "  said  the  Palikari,  "  Ti  eumorphon 
paidi  !  "  His  personal  beauty,  at  this  time,  and  for  years 
after,  was  remarkable:  and  the  Greeks  of  to-day,  like 
their  ancestors,  are  very  susceptible.  But  they  were  not 
very  clean,  nor  well  clad,  nor  well  fed;  they  had  few 
changes  of  raiment,  infrequent  washing  days,  and  a 
larder  often  very  poorly  stocked.  Dr. .Howe  said, 
thirty  years  after: 

"  I  knew  more  than  once  what  probably  you  never 
had  any  realizing  sense  of,  to-wit,  the  sharp  gnaw- 
ings  of  real  hunger.  You  know  only  what  a  good  ap 
petite  is;  you  don't  know  what  a  ravening  vulture  it 
becomes  when  it  grows  bad.  I  have  been  months 
without  eating  other  flesh  than  mountain  snails,  or 
roasted  wasps;  weeks  without  bread,  and  days  with 
out  a  morsel  of  food  of  any  kind.  Woe  to  the  stray 
donkey  or  goat  that  fell  within  our  reach  then;  they 
were  quickly  slain,  and  their  flesh  cut  up  hastily  in 
little  square  bits,  was  roasting  on  our  ramrods,  or 
devoured  half  raw." 

Yet,  amid  all  the  privations  and  dangers  of  his 
guerilla  life — for  the  Greek  armies  were  generally  but 
guerilla  bands — the  young  volunteer  preserved  his 
health,  his  good  spirits  and  his  good  New  England 
habits.  He  became,  like  the  Greeks  themselves,  as 
nimble  as  the  mountain  goat  ;  he  became  also  an 
accomplished  horseman,  a  good  shot,  a  beau  sabreur, 
and,  with  only  one  silk  shirt  and  very  ragged  Alba 
nian  fustinella  and  leggings,  he  displayed  the  knightly 
qualities  as  handsomely  as  if  he  had  worn  chain- 
armor,  or  carried  lance  in  rest,  like  Amadis  and  King 
Arthur  in  the  romances.  The  incident  which  Whit- 
tier  has  turned  into  verse  was  an  actual  occurrence 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  29 

in  the  year  1825,  and  was  related  by  Howe,  many 
years  after,  to  Charles  Sumner,  who  told  the  story  to 
Whittier.  The  scene,  as  we  know  from  a  paper  of 
Howe,  in  the  "  New  England  Magazine  "  for  Septem 
ber,  1831,  was  near  Calamata,  in  the  Southern  part  of 
the  Peloponnesus,  soon  after  the  fall  of  Navarino, 
May  9,  1825  : 

"  Once,  when  over  purple  mountains 

Died  away  the  Grecian  sun, 
And  the  far  Cyllenian  ranges 

Paled  and  darkened,  one  by  one, — 

"  Fell  the  Turk,  a  bolt  of  thunder, 

Cleaving  all  the  quiet  sky, 
And  against  his  sharp  steel  lightnings 
Stood  the  Suliote  but  to  die. 

"  Woe  for  the  weak  and  halting  ! 

The  crescent  blazed  behind 
A  curving  line  of  sabres, 
Like  fire  before  the  wind  ! 

"  Last  to  fly  and  first  to  rally, 
Rode  he  of  whom  I  speak, 
When,  groaning  in  his  bridle-path, 
Sank  down  a  wounded  Greek. 

"  With  the  rich  Albanian  costume 

Wet  with  many  a  ghastly  stain, 
Gazing  on  earth  and  sky  as  one 
Who  might  not  gaze  again  ! 

"  He  looked  forward  to  the  mountains, 

Back  on  foes  that  never  spare, 

Then  flung  him  from  the  saddle, 

And  placed  the  stranger  there. 


30  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

"  '  Allah  !  hu ! '     Through  flashing  sabres, 

Through  a  stormy  hail  of  lead, 
The  good  Thessalian  charger 
Up  the  slopes  of  olives  sped. 

"  Hot  spurred  the  turbanned  riders; 

He  almost  felt  their  breath, 
Where  a  mountain  stream  rolled  darkly  down 
Between  the  hills  and  death. 

"  One  brave  and  manful  struggle, — 

He  gained  the  solid  land, 
And  the  cover  of  the  mountains, 
And  the  carbines  of  his  band  !  " 

Dr.  Howe,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Greek  Revolu 
tion,"  passes  over  in  silence  his  own  adventures,  and 
gives  no  hint  of  this  one.  In  a  letter  to  Horace 
Mann,  written  in  1857,  he  says:  "  Sumner  (Charles 
Sumner,  the  statesman)  wormed  out  some  of  my 
adventures  in  Greece  ;  and  one  which  he  related  to 
Whittier  got  embalmed  and  preserved,  like  an  insect 
in  amber.  Out  of  very  ordinary  material  the  poet 
made  quite  a  scene — for  example,  transforming  the 
sorry  beast  I  rode  into  a  gallant  barb.  The  wounded 
soldier  would,  of  course,  have  had  his  head  hanging 
at  the  Turk's  saddle-bow  in  a  short  time,  if  I  had  not 
mounted  him  on  my  beast ;  and  he  always  swore  he 
owed  me  his  life,  and  claimed  the  privilege  of  stick 
ing  to  me,  and  preventing  any  one  but  himself  from 
picking  and  stealing  my  rations.  But  the  affair  was 
not  worth  embalming,  save  in  Francesco's  memory." 
Other  people  think  otherwise  about  this,  and  will  be 
grateful  to  Sumner  and  Whittier  for  preserving  the 
incident. 

But  Howe  had  himself  told  the  story  in  an  anony- 


YOUTHFUL    DARJNG.  31 

mous  contribution  to  the  New  England  Magazine  in 
1831.  Here  it  is  copied  from  the  pages  of  that  half- 
forgotten  monthly — the  precursor,  by  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  of  the  Atlantic  : 

Francesco's  attachment  to  me  was  founded  on  gratitude,  for 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  the  means  of  saving  his  life.  It 
was  by  chance  at  Calamata,  after  escaping  from  Navarino, 
when  a  sudden  invasion  of  the  Turks  forced  everyone  to  fly 
who  could  fly.  I  never  shall  forget  the  dreadful  scene  of  con 
fusion  and  distress  as  I  galloped  through  the  town,  accom 
panied  by  Ernest,  a  gallant  young  Swiss,  for  we  passed  many 
poor  beings,  old  or  sick,  who  were  unable  to  fly  on  foot,  and 
who  stretched  out  their  hands,  praying  for  God's  sake  that  we 
would  save  them.  But  selfishness  and  the  pressing  danger 
made  us  think  only  of  saving  our  own  lives.  We  had  left  the 
town,  and  were  hurrying  across  the  plain,  which  was  covered 
with  fugitives,  when  I  beheld  a  wounded  soldier  sitting  at  the 
foot  of  an  olive  tree,  pale,  exhausted,  and  alirost  fainting,  but 
still  grasping  his  long  gun,  as  if  he  meant  to  have  a  last  shot 
at  the  expected  foe.  It  was  Francesco,  who  had  been  dread 
fully  wounded  a  few  days  before,  and  had  staggered  thus  far 
from  the  temporary  hospital  at  Calamata  on  hearing  the  alarm. 
The  poor  fellow  cast  a  supplicating  look  at  us  as  we  passed, 
but  said  not  a  word.  That  look  cut  me  to  the  soul.  Had  he 
presented  his  gun  and  demanded  my  horse  it  would  not  have 
so  moved  me.-  I  could  not  but  turn  my  head  after  we  passed 
him,  and,  seeing  him  still  looking  after  us,  as  I  thought,  re 
proachfully,  I  pulled  up  my  horse.  On  calculating  the  distance, 
I  found  I  had  time  to  gain  the  mountains.  Of  course,  I  turned 
back,  mounted  the  poor  fellow  on  my  beast,  and  thus  easily 
reaped  the  rich  reward  of  his  gratitude. 

We  have  in  the  same  paper  a  description  of  Fran 
cesco's  person  and  dress  which  might  well  answer  for 
that  of  Howe  himself,  at  the  age  of  four  and  twenty, 
as  he  then  was.  "Francesco  was  in  form  and  mind  a 


32  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

true  Greek.  He  had  the  light,  well-made,  active  fig 
ure,  the  dark,  yet  clear  complexion,  the  regular  expres 
sive,  and  animated  features,  the  keen  and  ever-rest 
less  eye,  that  all  indicate  an  active,  enterprising  mind, 
keen  susceptibility  and  strong  but  short-lived  passion. 
With  his  beautiful  and  glittering  dress,  his  red  cap 
and  blue  silk  tassel ;  his  neck  bare  to  his  bosom,  his 
long  jet-black  ringlets  reaching  to  his  shoulders  ;  his 
gold-laced  close  jacket,  with  sleeves  slashed  and 
thrown  back  so  as  to  leave  the  right  arm  and  shoul 
der  bare  ;  the  white  kilt  bound  in  at  the  waist  with 
a  blue  silk  sash,  covered  by  a  belt  in  which  hung  yat- 
agan  and  gilded  pistols  ;  his  embroidered  garters  and 
sandaled  feet  ;  the  white,  shaggy  capote  hanging 
down  from  the  left  shoulder  ;  the  long,  light,  bright- 
barreled  gun  in  his  right  hand  ;  behold  the  Greek 
soldier  with  all  his  baggage  equipped  for  a  campaign!" 
Let  us  fasten  this  picture  in  our  minds,  or  confirm  it, 
if  we  can,  by  a  visit  to  the  portrait-gallery  of  the 
heroes  at  Athens,  and  we  shall  see  young  Howe  as  he 
was  in  1825. 

In  his  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  Greek  Revolution" 
(New  York,  1828,  but  long  out  of  print,  and  difficult 
to  find,  except  in  old  libraries),  Howe  gives  another 
picture  of  this  warfare  —  his  last  interview  with 
Dikaios  or  "  Papa  Flesher  " — a  priest  turned  fighter, 
who  was  one  of  the  favorite  leaders  of  the  Greeks,  in 
the  Peloponnesus,  till  he  fell  at  Agyia  on  the  borders 
of  Arcadia,  in  June,  1825.  This  must  have  been  the 
campaign  in  which  the  adventure  of  Whittier's  ballad 
occurred.  Dr.  Howe  says  :  l 


"  Historical  Sketch,"  etc.,  p.  243. 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  33 

The  contrast  between  the  first  and  last  time  I  saw 
Flesher  was  striking.  The  first  time  I  dined  with  him  at 
Napoli  (Nauplia).  It  was  in  the  Oriental  style,  with  all  its  pomp 
and  fatiguing  ceremonies  ;  but  Flesher,  by  his  graceful  personal 
appearance  and  manners,  threw  an  unusually  attractive  air  about 
it.  He  lolled  on  his  cushions  and  received  the  services  which 
his  attendants  offered  on  their  knees  with  all  the  nonchalance 
of  a  thorough  Moslem.  The  last  time  was  with  a  party  of 
flying  soldiers,  after  the  fall  of  Navarino.  It  was  midnight 
when  we  approached  cautiously  a  hill,  on  the  top  of  which  a 
fire  was  burning  brightly.  The  glowing  embers  of  several 
others,  scattered  about,  showed  that  some  soldiers  were  there. 
It  was  doubtful  who  they  were,  but  we  knew  the  Turks  to  be 
advancing  behind  us,  and  were  obliged  to  go  on.  As  soon  as 
we  fell  in  with  the  outposts,  we  learned  it  was  a  Greek  chief 
advancing  to  oppose  Ibrahim  Pasha.  We  were  conducted  up 
the  hill,  stepping  over  the  soldiers,  who,  wrapped  in  their 
capotes,  were  sleeping  soundly  on  the  rocks,  with  flat  stones  for 
their  pillows.  On  reaching  the  top,  we  found  the  chief,  fully 
armed,  sitting  by  the  fire  on  a  bit  of  carpet,  gazing  at  the  em 
bers.  It  was  Flesher.  He  had  heard  of  the  alarming  progress 
of  Ibrahim,  and,  quitting  the  luxuries  of  his  house,  he  rushed 
forward  to  meet  him,  and  now  was  sitting  in  the  open,  damp 
air  by  his  camp-fire  at  midnight,  loaded  with  pistols  and  yata 
ghan,  yet  as  much  at  ease  and  at  home  as  when  lolling  on  his 
sofa. 

In  the  same  campaign  Dr.  Howe,  wishing  to  show 
the  .courage  of  Demetrius  Ipselanti  and  of  his  Amer 
ican  comrade,  Colonel  Miller,  of  Vermont,  invol 
untarily  discloses  his  own  participation  in  a  desperate, 
but  successful,  encounter  near  Argos.  He  says  :l 

Arrived  upon  the  plain  of  Argos,  Ipselanti  resolved  to  save 
the  important  position  of  the  Mills  (Myli)  at  whatever  risk, 

i  History,  p.  247. 


34  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

but  he  could  only  find  200  men  daring  enough  to  join  him.  It 
is  opposite  Nauplia,  across  the  Argolic  Gulf,  about  twelve  miles 
distant,  where  a  little  rill  of  clear  water,  issuing  from  the 
famous  swamp  of  Lerna  (where  Hercules  killed  the  hydra) 
gives  a  good  mill  privilege.  Here  were  some  mills,  just  on  the 
seashore,  surrounded  by  a  wall  and  a  garden  with  an  outer 
wall.1  Ipselanti  despatched  a  boat  to  Nauplia  for  a  reinforce 
ment,  and  the  boat  returned  with  only  about  twenty  men 
hardy  enough  to  volunteer.  Among  these  were  three  Swiss 
and  two  Americans.  The  main  part  of  the  Turkish  army  had 
passed  by  without  perceiving  the  importance  of  the  Mills,  or 
the  danger  of  leaving  such  a  position  behind ;  but  the  Greeks 
ventured  out,  and  daringly  discharged  their  muskets  in  defi 
ance.  A  division  of  2,000  men  was  then  ordered  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  place,  and  the  cavalry  came  galloping  up  with 
out  dreaming  of  much  resistance.  Being  hotly  received,  they 
fell  back,  and  the  infantry,  advancing,  commenced  a  desperate 
attack.  The  Greeks,  securely  lodged  in  the  Mills,  poured  forth 
such  a  shower  of  balls  as  staggered  them,  and  it  required  all 
the  efforts  of  their  officers  to  keep  them  firm.  At  this  moment, 
a  party  of  Turks  broke  through  the  outer  garden  wall,  on  the 
extreme  right  of  the  Greek  position,  and  were  forming  their 
line  to  charge  on  the  flank,  when  eleven  men  (one  of  them  an 
American,  J.  P.  Miller,  of  Randolph,  Vt.,  who  had  on  other 
occasions  distinguished  himself  for  daring  courage),  who  were 
posted  behind  the  inner  wall,  threw  away  their  muskets,  and, 
jumping  over  the  breastwork,  rushed,  sword  in  hand,  upon  the 
Turks.  By  the  suddenness  and  impetuosity  of  their  onset  they 
completely  drove  the  enemy  from  the  garden,  and  saved  the 
position.  Three  of  the  little  band  were  wounded. 

In  a  note,  Dr.  Howe  adds,  concerning  Colonel  Mil 
ler,  what  was  equally  true  of  himself,  viz.:  "The  un 
tiring  zeal  with  which  this  gentleman  has  served  the 


1  This   description   reminds   one    of  the   Chateau    Hougomont, 
where  the  fate  of  Waterloo  and  Napoleon  was  decided. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  35 

cause  of  the  Greeks,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the 
courage  with  which  he  invited  dangerous  service, 
has  gained  the  gratitude  of  those  who  knew  him, 
while  the  prudence  of  his  deportment  among  the 
dissipated  foreigners  in  Greece  served  to  give  the 
natives  a  good  idea  of  the  moral  character  of  the 
Americans."  In  this  respect  they  contrasted  strongly 
with  Byron  and  Trelawny,  with  Fenton  and  Whit- 
combe,  who  would  have  assassinated  Trelawny,  and 
with  many  of  the  French  and  German  Philhellenes."* 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  CAVERN  ON  PARNASSUS. 

THE  whole  region  around  the  huge  and  wild  range 
of  mountains  called  Parnassus  by  the  ancient  Greeks, 
and  Liakoura  by  the  moderns,  is  wonderful  and 
romantic,  whether  seen  from  the  terrace  of  Delphi, 
from  the  valley  of  Amphissa  (which  Dr.  Howe  called 
Salona),  from  Arachova,  famous  for  its  barking  dogs 
and  beautiful  women,  or  from  Daulis  and  Velitsa,  near 
which  was  the  robber-cave  of  Odysseus  or  Ulysses,  the 
chieftain  of  this  century,  who  is  almost  as  renowned  in 
modern  Greece  as  his  namesake  of  Ithaca.  It  was  a 
tract  less  familiar  to  Dr.  Howe,  in  his  Greek  campaigns, 
than  Attica  and  the  Peloponnesus,  or  Corinth,  where 
he  planted  his  colony,  in  1829;  but  he  knew  it  well,  and 
also  the  tragedy  of  its  Parnassus  cavern,  which  both 
he  and  the  Englishman  Trelawnyhave  related.  This 
is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  give  Dr.  Howe's  account 
of  this  strange  affair,  which  led  to  Trelawny's  depart 
ure  from  Greece,  in  1826.  The  Englishman  himself  has 
described  it  in  his  memoirs,  but  the  statement  of  Dr. 
Howe  derives  importance  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
in  one  of  the  parties  that  beset  the  mountain  fast 
ness  of  Trelawny  on  Parnassus,  and  it  was  from  his 
company  that  young  Whitcombe  went  forth  to  join 

(36) 


YOUTHFUL  DARING:  37 

Fenton  in  the  plot  which  ended   so  disastrously  for 
both.     Dr.  Howe  says  :  * 

Ulysses  had  left  his  celebrated  cavern  on  Parnassus,  and  the 
object  of  the  Government  (against  whom  he  was  in  rebellion) 
was  to  get  possession  of  his  mountain  retreat.  This  was  most 
difficult  to  accomplish.  Force  could  not  effect  it,  starvation 
could  not,  for  it  was  well  supplied  with  provisions  ;  and  as  for 
fraud,  it  was  not  to  be  expected,  for  the  cavern  was  held  by  an 
Englishman,  Trelawny,  who  had  so  far  ingratiated  himself  with 
Ulysses  as  to  obtain  the  hand  of  his  sister,  and  he  now  bid  all 
Greece  defiance.  The  capture  of  it  was  effected  only  after 
much  lost  time  and  the  occurrence  of  deeds  within  it  the  rela 
tion  of  which  appear  more  like  romance  than  history.  As  my 
acquaintance  with  the  parties  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  know 
all  the  particulars,  I  am  induced  to  give  them.  Ulysses  had, 
in  the  opinion  of  many,  been  false  to  his  country.  He  had,  it 
was  asserted,  tried  to  procure  the  assassination  of  Mavrocor- 
dato ;  at  any  rate,  he  was  virtually  setting  the  Government  at 
defiance,  though  keeping  up  the  appearance  of  submission. 
His  favorite  resort  and  stronghold,  which  he  preferred  to  the 
Acropolis  of  Athens  (where  he  died),  was  a  remarkable  cavern 
on  Parnassus,  the  entrance  to  which  cannot  be  attained  except 
by  climbing  up  a  precipice  by  the  help  of  ladders.  It  is  very 
spacious,  and  contains  in  one  of  the  apartments  a  living  spring. 
The  rocks  so  hang  down  over  the  mouth  of  it  that  no  shot  or 
bomb  can  be  thrown  in.  It  is  divided  by  nature  into  different 
apartments,  and  art  has  formed  store-rooms,  magazines,  and 
everything  necessary  for  a  supply  of  provisions  for  years.2 

Trelawny  was  left  by  Ulysses  in  possession  of  this  cavern. 
Fenton  was  a  Scot,  a  young  man  endowed  with  great  personal 


1  History,  pp.  251-54. 

2  The  cave  is  evidently  described  from  Howe's  own  observation; 
however,  it  is  more  fully  described  by  Trelawny,  and  in  the  latest 
edition  of  his  "Adventures  of  a  Younger  Son"  (London,  1890) 
there  is  an  engraving  of  it. 


38  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

advantages,  but  a  cold-blooded,  deliberate  ruffian.  He  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  cavern  by  Trelawny,  and  became  his  pretended 
friend.  He  soon  offered  to  go  to  Napoli  (Nauplia)  and  act  as 
a  spy  upon  the  Government,  but  he  was  at  the  same  time  in 
correspondence  with  the  Government,  through  the  agency  of 
Mr.  Jarvis,  and  had  offered  to  procure  the  capture  or  death  of 
Ulysses  and  the  delivery  of  the  cavern  into  the  hands  of  the 
Government  on  the  payment  of  a  certain  sum.  On  arriving  at 
Napoli  he  had  several  interviews  with  Mavrocordato.  What 
plans  were  agreed  upon  is  not  known,  but,  in  some  of  his  letters 
to  Jarvis,  Fenton  had  offered  to  kill  Ulysses  and  Trelawny  if 
necessary.  After  making  his  arrangements  with  Government, 
through  Mavrocordato,  then  Secretary  of  State,  Fenton  induced 
the  Government  to  issue  a  public  order  for  him  to  quit  Napoli 
in  two  hours  as  being  a  suspicious  person.  He  then  went  to 
the  cave  and  told  Trelawny  everything,  and  that  he  had  per 
suaded  Government  he  was  sincere  in  his  offer  to  murder  his 
friend  and  benefactor.  Of  course,  Trelawny  would  then  dis 
credit  any  accounts  he  might  hear  of  it,  as  he  would  not  be 
lieve  such  baseness  possible.  Still,  Fenton  went  on  hatching 
his  plot,  and  the  strangest  part  of  the  story  is  that  he  chose  for 
the  instrument  of  his  crime  a  young  Englishman  of  family  and 
education,  and  that  the  arch-villain  should  persuade  him  to  it. 
His  victim  (for  I  must  call  Whitcombe  the  victim)  was  about 
nineteen  years  old,  had  been  a  midshipman  in  the  British  ser 
vice,1  and  had  come  to  Greece  burning  \vith  enthusiasm  for 
her  cause,  and  still  more  with  a  desire  to  distinguish  himself  by 
some  daring  act.  He  was  full  of  vanity  and  ambition,  bold 
and  headstrong,  indeed,  but  generous  and  proud,  and  I  believe 
would  then  have  shuddered  at  the  bare  thought  of  what  he  was 
afterwards  induced  to  commit.  He  .left  the  party  of  soldiers 
with  which  we  were,  and,  in  the  mere  spirit  of  wandering,  went 
near  to  the  cavern  of  Ulysses.  He  was  met  by  Fenton,  and 
carried  up  to  the  cavern.  In  one  single  day  Whitcombe  be- 


1  So  had  Trelawny,  which  may  have  been  a  reason  for  letting 
Whitcombe  escape. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  39 

came  the  admirer  of  Fenton ;  thought  him  the  noblest,  the 
most  romantic,  the  bravest  of  men  ;  in  one  day  more  he  thought 
him  injured  and  abused  by  Trelawny,  learned  to  hate  Trelawny, 
believed  that  Trelawny  despised  him,  and  meditated  injuring 
him ;  and  on  the  third  day  he  swore  eternal  friendship  to  Fen- 
ton,  and  that  he  would  stand  by  him  at  all  hazards  in  any  at 
tempt  to  regain  what  he  believed  his  right.  Still  Fenton  did 
not  dare  propose  his  horrid  plan.  Two  days  more  were  passed 
in  riot  and  drinking,  and  Whitcombe  was  excited  by  wild  plans 
of  power  and  of  becoming  prince  of  the  surrounding  province  l 
if  Fenton  could  become  master  of  the  cavern,  and  there  was 
only  Trelawny  in  the  way. 

On  the  sixth  day  3  they  were  to  meet  Trelawny  on  the  ledge 
in  front  of  the  cavern  to  practice  pistol  firing.  This  was  the 
moment  Fenton  chose  for  the  execution  of  his  plan.  He  got 
Whitcombe  intoxicated,  and  made  him  believe  Trelawny  had  a 
plot  to  murder  them  both.  Whitcombe  swore  to  stand  by  his 
friend  to  the  last,  and  promised  to  be  ready  on  any  signal.  It 
was  Trelawny's  first  fire,  and,  after  hitting  the  mark,  he  went 
a  little  forward,  and,  in  his  usual  cold,  unsocial  way,  stood  with 
his  back  to  them.  Fenton  raised  his  carabine,  which  was  not 
loaded,  and,  pointing  it  at  Trelawny,  snapped.  He  looked 
with  pretended  dismay  as  Whitcombe,  cocked  and  snapped 
again.  "  He  turned  upon  me  such  a  look,  I  knew  not  what  I 
did.  I  raised  my  gun,  pulled  the  trigger,  and  fell  from  my  own 
emotions."  These  were  the  words  of  the  mad  boy,  who  had 
become  all  but  an  assassin.  Two  balls,  with  which  his  gun 
was  loaded,  had  lodged  in  the  back  of  Trelawny,  who  was 
apparently  dying.  The  soldiers  rushed  in,  and  Whitcombe 
heard  the  voice  of  Fenton,  who  was  supporting  Trelawny, 
crying,  "  There  is  the  young  traitor !  Shoot  him  ;  cut  him 


1  This  was  the  province  of  Livadia,  of  which  Lebadea  was  the 
chief  town,  but  which  extended  northeast  into    Locris.     Of  this 
Ulysses  had  been  the  ruler  for  some  time.     His  father,  Andritzos 
was  a  Thessalian,  from  beyond  Locris. 

2  Trelawny  says  the  fourth. 


40  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

down !  Do  not  let  him  speak."  But  Whitcombe  ran,  gained 
an  inner  apartment,  and  taking  off  his  sash,  fastened  it,  and 
threw  himself  over  the  precipice.  By  some  strange  means  he 
got  safely  to  the  bottom.  After  running  some  time  he  was  met 
by  some  soldiers  of  Ulysses,  and  carried  back  to  the  cavern, 
half  distracted.  On  entering,  he  asked,  "  Where  is  Fenton  ?  " 
"  At  your  feet ;  "  and  he  looked  down  on  his  bleeding  corpse. 
There  was  a  Swiss  in  the  cavern  who  had  seen  the  transaction. 
He  had  seen  the  emotion  of  Whitcombe,  and  could  not  believe 
he  committed  the  act.  When  he  heard  Fenton  crying  out  to 
kill  him  without  letting  him  speak,  he  became  convinced.  He 
ordered  a  soldier  to  fire  on  Fenton ;  the  ball  just  passed  his 
head.  Fenton  turned  round  quickly,  and  seeing  the  Swiss, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  a  dead  shot,  aiming  another  musket  at 
him,  he  turned  fully  in  front  of  him,  put  his  hand  on  his  breast, 
and  cried,  "  Fire  again  !  I  am  ready."  He  received  the  ball 
through  his  heart,  fell,  rolled  upon  his  face,  and  expired  with 
out  a  groan. 

Whitcombe  was  put  in  irons  and  kept  so  till  Trelawny, 
against  all  human  expectations,  recovered  a  little.  He  ordered 
Whitcombe  brought  before  him,  had  his  irons  taken  off,  and 
set  him  at  liberty;  nor  did  he  seem  to  have  the  least  idea  that 
Whitcombe  had  fired  upon  him.  He  continued  to  treat  him 
kindly.  Whitcombe  said  :  "  I  could  not  stand  this  generosity. 
I  confessed  to  him  the  whole ;  I  even  gave  it  to  him  in  writing, 
and  he  dismissed  me."  Trelawny  recovered  from  his  desperate 
wound,  and,  perhaps  getting  fatigued  with  his  solitary  situation, 
retired  with  his  young  bride  to  the  Ionian  Islands.  Whit 
combe  is  ruined  and  desperate  (1828);  he  has  blighted  the 
hopes  of  his  highly  respectable  mother  and  wounded  the  pride 
of  his  brave  brothers,  who  are  officers  of  the  British  army.1 

It  is  evident  from  this  strange  tale  (which  is  mainly 
confirmed  by  Trelawny)  that  Whitcombe  was  so  con 
fused  by  drink  that  he  was  under  some  delusions,,  for 


One  of  them  served  with  Howe  in  Greece. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  41 

it  is  quite  likely  Fenton  himself  fired  one  of  the  fatal 
shots.  Trelawny's  own  version  of  the  story  makes 
the  time  shorter  (only  four  days  from  Whitcombe's 
arrival),  and  adds  many  curious  particulars  of  this 
garrison  life  on  Parnassus.  He  gives  also  a  drawing 
of  the  cavern,  with  its  three  ladders  of  approach.  He 
says: 

I  left  Missolonghi  in  May,  1824,  to  return  to  Salona,  with 
about  100  men,  including  the  Roumeliotes  I  had  brought  with 
me.  In  all  my  motley  squad  there  was  one  only  who  spoke 
English,  and  he  was  a  Scot  (this  was  Fenton).  It  would  have 
been  better  had  I  omitted  that  one.  ...  In  addition  to 
my  small  number  within  the  cave,  I  had  a  much  larger  force 
at  the  foot  of  the  ladders,  hutted  within  a  stone  breastwork.  I 
gave  the  command  of  them  to  the  Scotchman,  whom  I  had 
brought  from  Missolonghi  (two  years  before).  He  then  intro 
duced  himself  to  me,  saying  he  had  come  out  expressly  to  join 
Lord  Byron's  regiment ;  that  he  had  served  in  the  civil  wars  of 
Spain ;  was  skilled  in  guerilla  warfare,  and  that  his  funds  were 
exhausted.  He  was  a  tall,  bony  man,  with  prominent  eyes  and 
features,  in  the  prime  of  life,  thirty-one  pr  thirty-two  years  old. 
His  dress,  accoutrements  and  arms  were  all  well  chosen.  He 
was  restless,  energetic,  enterprising,  and  a  famous  walker.  I 
sent  him  on  many  missions ;  to  the  Ionian  Islands  for  money, 
to  the  seat  of  government  to  see  what  they  were  doing,  and 
with  letters  to  friendly  chiefs,  so  that  he  was  not  much  at  the 
cave  ;  and  when  he  was,  he  lived  in  a  hut  below  it.  I  supplied 
him  with  all  he  wanted ;  my  purse  was  his.  He  was  not 
squeamish  on  these  points,  but  sensual,  and  denied  himself 
nothing  within  his  reach.  When  in  my  neighborhood  he  passed 
most  of  his  time  with  me.  No  querulous  word  or  angry  glance 
ever  ruffled  our  friendly  intercourse.  I  thought  him  honest, 
and  his  staying  with  me  a  proof  of  his  good  will,  if  not  per 
sonal  friendship.  In  March,  1825,  I  sent  Fenton  to  Argos, 
where  the  government  was,  to  get  what  information  he  could 


42  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

of  their  designs.  One  of  the  most  acute  and  unprincipled  of 
the  hangers-on  of  the  Government,  who  was  confident  every 
man  had  his  price  (he  means  Mavrocordato),  instinctively  dis 
covered  that  Fenton  was  one  of  his  own  type ;  and,  after  many 
conferences,  they  devised  a  plan  to  entrap  Odysseus  and  assas 
sinate  me.  If  Fenton  was  successful  he  was  to  have  half  of 
everything  that  was  in  the  cavern.  He  returned  to  me  with  a 
budget  of  special  lies.  ...  In  the  latter  end  of  May  Fen 
ton  had  brought  with  him  from  Arachova,  in  Bceotia,1  a  light 
headed,  but  apparently  simple-minded,  English  Philhellene, 
named  Whitcombe.  He  said  he  had  been  in  the  East  Indian 
army,  and  came  to  Greece  to  seek  adventures.  They  both 
dined  and  passed  their  evenings  with  me,  but  slept  below  in 
Fenton's  hut." 

Trelawny  then  relates  how,  on  the  fourth  day  after 
Whitcombe  came,  the  three  sat  smoking  and  drinking 
under  the  veranda  on  the  lower  terrace.  While  the 
three  were  in  the  cavern,  an  Albanian,  a  Hungarian, 
and  an  Italian  were  temporarily  off  duty.  Fenton 
then  proposed  a  shooting  match  between  himself  and 
Whitcombe,  and  had  the  Italian  sent  up  stairs.  Soon 
he  proposed  that  Trelawny  should  shoot  with  his 
pistol,  which  he  did. 

"  They  were  standing  together  on  a  flat  rock  two  yards  be 
hind  me.  The  instant  I  had  fired  I  heard  another  report,  and 
felt  that  I  was  shot  in  the  back.  They  both  exclaimed  '  What 
a  horrid  accident ! '  As  one  of  their  flint  guns  had  just  before 
hung  fire,  and  I  had  seen  Fenton  doing  something  to  the  lock 
of  his,  I  thought  it  was  an  accident.  No  thought  of  their 
treachery  crossed  my  mind.  I  did  not  fall,  but  sat  down  on  a 


1  There  is  another  town  of  this  name  in  Arcadia;  the  one  meant 
here  is  next  to  Delphi,  under  Parnassus. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  43 

rock  with  the  pistol  in  my  hand,  and  in  perfect  possession  of  all 
my  faculties.  Fenton  said,  '  Shall  I  shoot  Whitcombe  ?  '  I 
answered  '  No.'  I  took  my  other  pistol  from  my  belt,  when 
Fenton  said,  '  I  will  call  your  servant,'  and  hastily  left  me,  fol 
lowing  Whitcombe  to  the  entrance  porch.  The  dog-,  growling 
fiercely,  first  stopped  their"  flight.  The  Hungarian,  always 
prompt,  was  quickly  at  his  post  on  the  upper  terrace.  Fenton, 
who  had  run  away,  called  to  him,  '  A  dreadful  accident !  Will 
you  come  down  and  help  ?  '  The  Hungarian  said, '  No  accident, 
but  treachery.  If  you  don't  put  down  your  carbine  I  shall 
shoot  you  ! '  Fenton,  as  a  last  resort,  was  raising  his  carbine, 
when  the  Hungarian  shot  him,  and  he  fell  dead.  Whitcombe 
attempted  to  escape  by  the  trap-door  leading  to  the  ladder, 
the  dog  threw  him  on  his  back  and  held  him  as  if  he  had  been 
a  rat.  .  .  .  His  life  now  hung  on  mine,  and  everybody 
thought  that  I  was  mortally  wounded.  They  all  swore  if  I 
died  they  would  roast  him  before  a  slow  fire.  This  was  no  idle 
threat,  for  it  had  been  done  more  than  once  during  that  san 
guinary  war," 

Trelawny  next  describes  his  double  wound,  and 
how  he  recovered  from  it.  "I  owed  my  life  to 
a  sound  constitution,  and  having  had  no  doctor." 
Whitcombe  pleaded  guilty  and  begged  for  life,  writ 
ing  to  Trelawny  "  an  incoherent  statement  of  what 
took  place  betwen  him  and  Fenton."  By  his  account 
"  his  feeble  brain  was  worked  up  to  a  state  of  hom 
icidal  insanity."  He  persisted  that  Fenton  shot  Tre 
lawny.  "  He  was  now  mad  with  terror,  screamed  and 
shrieked  if  anyone  came  near  him.  He  was  in  irons 
and  chained  to  the  wall,  with  no  other  food  than 
bread  and  water.  I  resolved  on  the  twentieth  day  of 
his  imprisonment  to  set  him  free,  which  I  did."  Tre 
lawny  also  prints  several  of  Whitcombe's  letters,  in 
one  of  which,  dated  August,  1825,  he  says  that  a  cer- 


44  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

tain  Mr.  Humphreys  induced  him  to  visit  Trelawny's 
cave.1 

Who  this  Englishman  Humphrey  was  does  not 
appear  either  from  Howe's  account  or  from  Tre 
lawny's. 

In  some  chapters  published  by  Dr.  Howe  in  the 
New  England  Magazine  for  1831,  he  gives  a  picture  of 
young  Whitcombe  as  he  first  saw  him,  and  as  he  be 
held  him  after  the  tragedy  above  recited,  and  though 
the  dates  and  places  are  a  little  disguised,  the  story 
may  be  depended  on.  He  says  :a 

"  Our  band  of  mountain  soldiers  halted  under  the  deep  shadow 
of  a  cluster  of  broad-leaved  fig  trees  to  pass  the  heat  of  the 
day.  We  had  taken  our  siesta,  and  when  I  awoke  I  took  a  look 
at  the  singular  group  around  me.  The  object  which  most  in 
terested  me  was  the  slender,  elegant  figure  of  a  stripling  of 
nineteen,  who  lay  at  my  feet  with  his  head  half  raised  and  rest 
ing  on  one  hand,  while  in  the  other  he  held  a  miniature,  and 
his  eyes  were  fixed  on  an  open  letter  on  the  grass  before  him. 
His  graceful  form,  just  budding  into  manhood,  had  the  suppleness 
and  ease  peculiar  to  his  age,  which  makes  every  posture  grace 
ful.  His  features  were  regular  and  beautiful,  though  strongly 
marked.  His  complexion,  dark  by  nature,  was  still  more  dark 
ened  by  exposure,  and  his  large,  black  eyes,  ever  restless  and 
full  of  fire,  gave  animation  to  his  whole  countenance.  Then 
the  rich  and  picturesque  costume  of  the  Albanian  Greeks,  re 
lieved  by  the  large,  shaggy  capote  on  which  he  was  lying,  gave 


1  This  cave;  according  to  Col.  Gordon,  "  is  impregnable,  and 
when  the  ladders  were  removed  neither  armies  nor  artillery 
could  make  any  impression,  It  is  at  a  perpendicular  height  of 
150  feet  from  the  bottom  of  a  precipice,  and  sheltered  above  by  a 
lofty  arch." 

a  N.  E.  Magazine,  Vol  I.  (1831),  pp.  290,  387,  I  have  con 
densed  and  transposed  the  passages  a  little.  • 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  45 

the  perfect  picture  of  a  young  Greek  in  the  person  of  an  Eng 
lishman  of  family  and  fortune.  Suddenly  he  sprang  to  his  feet, 
and,  calling  me  by  name,  cried  out,  '  Will  you  be  off  with  me 
or  not  ?  for  if  I  stay  here  any  longer,  waiting  for  the  Turkish 
hounds,  may  I  be  damned  !  I'll  not  be  beating  about  with  you 
any  longer  in  these  parts  (said  Whitcombe).  I'll  be  off  to 
Ulysses  with  my  five  soldiers,  and  we  shall  see  more  fighting 
there  in  one  week  than  you  will  have  here  if  you  wait  till  dooms 
day.'  '  Nonsense  !  '  cried  I.  '  Do  have  patience.  We  can  be 

of  no  service  to  Greece  unless  ' '  Service  to  Greece  !    You 

are  always  prating  about  that.  I  tell  you  I  want  to  be  quick 
about  it ;  I  want  a  chance  to  fight,  and  be  promoted,  and  get 
some  credit,  and  go  home  to  England  and  enjoy  it.  Who  can 
stay  in  this  miserable,  dirty  country  where  one  gets  nothing  to 
eat  but  onions,  black  bread,  and  olives,  and  nothing  to  drink  but 
sour  wine  ? '  I  tried  to  pacify  the  petted  and  spoiled  boy,  and 
he  agreed  to  accompany  us  another  day's  march.  This  was 
disturbed  by  no  uncommon  event,  except  that  we  hurried  more 
than  usual,  and  often  looked  anxiously  about  us  lest  we  should 
be  surprised  on  the  open  plain  by  the  Turkish  cavalry.  In  a 
small,  open  village,  after  dinner,  Francesco  ran  forward,  and  in 
a  moment  I  heard  his  shrill  cry, '  The  Turks  !  the  Turks  ! '  Our 
mules  and  baggage  were  driven  into  a  stone  church  as  a  strong 
hold  and  place  of  refuge  in  case  our  outworks  should  be  carried. 
Some  of  our  300  men  went  furiously  to  work,  digging  a  ditch 
in  which  they  could  lie  down  and  be  sheltered  by  the  few  feet 
of  earth  flung  up  before  them.  Others  punched  holes  through 
the  outer  walls  of  the  cottages  facing  the  plain,  from  which 
they  could  put  out  their  muskets  and  fire  in  security.  All  were 
busied  in  preparing  for  defence  with  the  least  possible  ex 
posure—all  but  Whitcombe.  His  spirits  seemed  to  rise  and 
his  eyes  to  flash  fire  as  he  stood  impatient  on  a  bank,  with 
his  hand  on  the  trigger  of  his  cocked  gun,  the  muzzle  resting 
on  his  left  arm.  There  was  a  sudden  movement  of  the  foe  ; 
their  horses  dashed  foward  towards  us  at  a  gallop  ;  the  riders 
waved  their  scimetars,  when  I  felt  myself  pulled  into  the  ditch 
by  Francesco,  and,  putting  out  my  gun  through  a  hole,  I  lay 


46  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

and  waited  till  they  should  be  within  shot.  A  flash  of  fire  ran 
along  their  line,  their  balls  whizzed  over  our  heads ;  our  mus 
kets  instantly  rattled  in  reply.  After  that  I  saw  nothing  and 
thought  of  nothing  but  to  load  and  fire.  As  the  smoke  rose,  I 
saw  a  troop  of  a  dozen  dash  within  a  few  yards  of  us,  fire  their 
pistols,  wheel,  and  away ;  and  when  the  smoke  again  cleared 
off  they  were  half  a  mile  distant,  Then  there  was  shouting 
and  congratulation  in  our  hitherto  breathless  band.  Whitcombe 
leaped  over  the  barrier,  yataghan  in  hand,  and  would  have  ad 
vanced,  but  no  one  followed  the  foolhardy  boy.  At  sunset  we 
left  our  dangerous  position,  and  a  hard  night's  march  brought 
us  to  the  main  body  of  our  men. 

"  But  Whitcombe  soon  tired  ;  his  restless  spirit  needed  more 
excitement,  and  the  company  of  some  reckless  spirits,  whom 
he  had  unfortunately  met  and  who  pressed  him  to  join  them  in 
Western  Greece,  where  they  had,  as  they  said,  hard  fighting, 
but  beauty  and  wassail  to  recompense  them.  I  trembled  as 
he  left  me,  for  I  knew  he  was  the  darling  of  an  aged  mother, 
the  hope  of  a  proud  family.  Months  rolled  away  and  I  heard 
nothing  from  Whitcombe.  I  heard,  indeed,  strange  tales  of 
some  Europeans  in  Western  Greece  ; 1  men  talked  of  dissipation 
and  unnatural  crimes ;  of  treason  and  assassination.  But  the 
East  abounds  with  such  tales,  and  I  noticed  them  not.  One  even 
ing,  at  Hydra,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  the  appearance  of 
a  young  man,  coming  slowly  along  the  street,  apparently  very 
weak  and  exhausted.  His  once  magnificently  embroidered 
dress  presented  a  strange  contrast  of  rags  and  riches,  splendor 
and  dirt ;  he  was  without  arms,  though  his  silver  cartridge- 
boxes  and  pistol-belt  showed  him  to  have  been  a  soldier.  As 
he  drew  near,  I  saw  that  he  was  sallow  and  emaciated  ;  I  met 
him  at  the  door,  against  which  he  supported  himself  with  one 
hand  and,  hesitatingly,  held  out  the  other  to  me,  and  fixed  on 
me  his  ghastly,  sunken  eyes.  I  took  his  hand,  doubtfully  ;  he 
exclaimed,  in  a  hollow  voice,  '  Do  you  not  know  me  ?  '  It  was 


1  He  means  in  the  region  of  Parnassus,  where  Fenton  and  Tre- 
lawny  and  Ulysses  were. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  47 

Whitcombe ;  but  so  changed  from  the  fiery,  yet  blooming 
youth  I  had  seen  a  few  months  before  that  I  could  scarce  be 
lieve  my  eyes.  We  got  him  food,  and  tried  to  cheer  him,  but 
he  was  sad  and  reserved. 

"  I  suspected  his  mind  was  affected,  and  we  got  him  to  retire, 
having  made  up  the  best  bed  we  could  with  some  rags,  on 
the  floor  of  the  adjoining  room.  At  midnight  I  was  wakened 
by  the  most  dreadful  screams  from  Whitcombe's  room.  I 
seized  a  pistol  in  one  hand,  a  sword  in  the  other,  and,  dashing 
open  the  door,  found  him  rolling  on  the  floor,  groaning  out,  '  I 
am  stabbed  and  murdered — I  am  dying  ! ' 

" '  Who  has  stabbed  you  ?     There  is  no  one  here.' 

"'  There,  there,'  cried  he,  clinging  to  my  legs,  and  pointing 
to  a  dark  corner  of  the  room,  '  there  he  is  ! ' 

"  Not  a  soul  was  to  be  found,  and  then  the  truth  flashed  upon 
me.  He  had  been  dreaming — his  conscience  had  conjured  up 
a  specter.  I  passed  my  hand  over  his  body,  and  persuaded 
him  he  was  not  dying,  nor  even  wounded.  Before  morning  the 
unhappy  youth  disclosed  to  us  a  plot  which,  aided  by  his  own 
folly  and  pride  and  ambition,  had  made  him  a  traitor  and  as 
sassin.  He  told  a  tale  which  bore  every  impress  of  truth, 
which  subsequent  events  have  proved  to  be  in  the  main  cor 
rect,  and  yet  so  strange,  so  horrible,  as  to  belong  rather  to  the 
province  of  romance  than  of  history." 

Here  Dr.  Howe  left  the  story  unfinished,  which  he 
had  partly  told  in  1828,  and  which  he  evidently  meant 
to  tell  more  fully  in  1832.  But  he  sailed  from  Boston 
in  October,  1831,  and  went  through  such  singular 
adventures  in  Europe  before  he  returned  to  Boston, 
that  he  never  again  took  up  the  thread  of  his  story, 
except  in  conversation  now  and  then.  Whether  he 
met  Trelawny  in  America  in  1834-5,  I  cannot  say. 
Wendell  Phillips  did,  in  Philadelphia,  and  formed  the 
most  unfavorable  opinion  of  him. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SCENES  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

IN  the  journals  of  Dr.  Howe,  some  of  which  he 
published  soon  after  returning  to  America,  are  many 
vivid  descriptions  of  Grecian  life  during  the  Revo 
lution  and  afterwards.  These  will  give  better 
than  any  words  of  mine,  the  spirit  of  the  time  and 
place  in  which  for  six  years  he  led  so  active  a  life. 
Trelawny  also  has  printed  some  similar  sketches, 
taken  from  his  own  diary,  or  his  retentive  memory, 
and  one  of  them  may  first  be  given,  as  earliest  in  date. 
Trelawny  seems  to  have  been  a  veracious  chronicler 
of  some  parts  of  his  strange  life;  although,  like  Dr. 
Howe,  in  the  passages  just  quoted,  he  sometimes  dis 
guises  the  literal  facts  from  design  or  failure  of  mem 
ory.  He  has  not  described  the  skirmishes  and  battles 
that  he  saw  in  Greece  so  often  as  Dr.  Howe  did,  but 
there  is  a  passage  in  his  Records  which  portrays  in  a 
striking  manner  the  result  of  one  of  those  fights,  of 
which  Howe  gives  an  account,  though  neither  were 
present  at  it.  This  was  the  defeat  of  Dramalis,  the 
Turk,  by  Nikitas,  the  Turkophagos,  in  August,  1822,  on 
the  way  from  Mycenae  to  Corinth,  in  a  pass  through 
which  now  runs  the  railway  from  Nauplia  and  Argos 

(48) 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  49 

to  Corinth. !  Trelawny,  writing  many  a  year  afterward 
says,  speaking  of  his  journey  from  Missolonghi  to 
Salona,  before  Byron  landed  in  Greece. 

"On  our  way  from  Argos  to  Corinth,  in  1823,  we  passed 
through  the  defiles  of  Dervenakia ;  our  road  was  a  mere  mule- 
path  for  about  two  leagues,  winding  along  in  the  bed  of  a 
brook,  flanked  by  rugged  precipices.  In  this  gorge,  and  a 
more  rugged  path  above  it,  a  large  Ottoman  force,  principally 
cavalry,  had  been  stopped  in  the  previous  autumn,  by  barri 
cades  of  rocks  and  trees,  and  slaughtered  like  droves  of  cattle 
by  the  wild  and  exasperated  Greeks.  It  was  a  perfect  picture 
of  the  war,  and  told  its  own  story ;  the  sagacity  of  the  nimble- 
footed  Greeks  and  the  hopeless  stupidity  of  the  Turkish  com 
manders  were  palpable.  Detached  from  the  heaps  of  dead 
we  saw  the  skeletons  of  some  bold  riders,  who  had  attempted 
to  scale  the  acclivities,  still  astride  the  skeletons  of  their 
horses,  and  in  the  rear,  as  if  in  the  attempt  to  back  out  of  the 
fray,  the  bleached  bones  of  the  negroes'  hands  still  holding  the 
hair  ropes  attached  to  the  skulls  of  the  camels — death  like  sleep, 
is  a  strange  posture-master.  There  were  grouped  in  a  narrow 
space,  5,000  or  more  skeletons  of  men,  horses,  camels,  and 
mules  ;  vultures  had  eaten  their  flesh,  and  the  sun  had  bleached 
their  bones.  In  this  picture  the  Turks  looked  like  a  herd  of 
bisons,  trapped  and  butchered  in  the  gorges  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  rest  of  their  battles,  amidst  scenery  generally 
of  the  same  rugged  character,  only  differed  in  their  magni 
tude."2 


1In  March,  1890,  I  traversed  this  route,  and  the  conductor  of  our 
train,  as  we  went  through  the  defile,  came  into  our  carriage  and 
pointed  out  the  scene  of  the  fearful  slaughter  of  the  Turks.  It  is  a 
most  murderous  looking  battle-field. 

2  Records  by  Trelawny.     Vol.  2,  p.  121,  London,  1878. 

This  fight  occurred  August  6,  1822  ;  Dramalis  was  the  Turkish 
general ;  Colocotroni  and  Nikitas  were  the  Greek  commanders. 
The  railway  now  runs  through  this  pass.  I  went  through  on  a  train 


50  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Dr.  Howe  again  described  his  comrade,  Francesco, 
thus  : 

Francesco,  my  comrade  and  servant,  was  born  he  knew  not 
where  ;  but  first  found  himself  a  slave  at  Constantinople.  He 
grew  up  under  the  eye  of  a  tyrant,  whom  he  hated  and  feared, 
and  who  (as  Francesco  said),  though  free  from  the  unnatural 
passion  which  is  one  of  the  besetting  sins  of  the  Asiatic  Turks, 
treated  him  in  every  other  respect  as  a  dog  and  a  slave.  The 
earliest  efforts  of  his  mind  were  to  deceive  and  cheat  his  mas 
ter  ;  hypocrisy  and  deception  were  his  only  weapons  against 
brutal  force.  "  So  much,"  said  he,  "  did  I  fawn  upon  my  mas 
ter,  so  cringing,  so  cowardly,  and  unresenting  did  I  appear 
under  the  lash,  that  you  would  have  said  I  had  no  soul,  and 
could  not  feel  like  a  man."  He  had  no  communion  of  soul 
with  his  kind,  for  the  hand  of  every  man  was  against  him ;  he 
saw  that  every  one  around  him  was  perfectly  unprincipled  and 
selfish,  and  trying  by  force  or  fraud  to  overreach  his  neighbor ; 
he  himself  could  do  nothing  by  the  strong  hand,  and  he  had, 
like  all  the  weak,  recourse  to  guile.  He  clad  his  face  in  smiles  ; 
he  put  on  a  simple  and  benevolent  look ;  he  cultivated  his 


March  31,  1890,  from  near  Mycenae  (Phichtia  is  the  station)  to 
Nemea  the  other  side  of  the  gorge,  near  which  spot  the 
myth  of  the  Nemean  lion  is  localized.  There  is  no  outlet 
from  the  plain  of  Argos  toward  Corinth  but  by  the  passes 
of  Barbati  and  Dervenaki,  which  lead  from  either  side  of 
Mycenae  into  the  valley  of  Cleonae.  Dr.  Howe,  in  one  of  his 
magazine  chapters  (September,  1831)  sketches  this  same  defile 
(through  which  in  1825,  he  passed  with  Francesco)  thus  :  "  We 
soon  came  to  the  foot  of  a  ridge  of  precipitous,  rocky  mountains, 
which  rises  almost  like  a  wall  from  the  plain,  and  separates  the 
dominions  of  Corinth  from  the  Argolid.  A  narrow  chasm  in  the 
ridge,  which  I  had  not  before  perceived,  now  opened  before  us  ; 
and,  entering  its  jaws,  we  found  ourselves  between  two  precipices, 
which  rose  to  an  immense  height  on  each  side,  gradually  narrow 
ing,  till  there  was  hardly  room  for  a  road.  Clambering  up  a 
narrow  foot-path,  we  emerged  from  the  glen,  and  came  to  the  open 
plain  on  the  other  side  of  the  ridge." 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  51 

address,  and  flattered  every  one  he  met.  With  a  continual  eye 
to  his  own  interest,  he  studied  the  character  of  others,  and 
tried  to  take  advantage  of  their  weaknesses ;  he  would  lie  and 
cheat  for  gain,  and  then  he  must  lie  and  cheat  to  conceal  his 
spoil  from  his  master,  who  would  have  approved  the  villainy, 
and  stripped  the  villain. 

But  Francesco  watched  his  time ;  he  killed  his  tyrant ;  he 
took  as  much  of  his  gold  as  he  could  get  at ;  and,  concealing 
himself  in  the  hold  of  a  vessel,  escaped  from  Constantinople. 
He  roved  about  some  time,  a  pirate  in  the  Archipelago ;  and 
then  found  his  way  to  western  Europe  ;  he  wandered  awhile  in 
Italy,  sometimes  a  trader,  sometimes  a  spy,  and  sometimes,  I 
fear,  a  brigand.  He  was  an  atheist,  and  unprincipled,  though 
he  still  clung  to  the  mummeries  of  his  church  ;  he  would  take 
by  the  beard,  and  rob,  a  priest  of  his  own  religion,  when  out  of 
his  sacerdotal  robes,  yet  would  he  never  eat  without  crossing 
himself,  or  undertake  a  pillaging  excursion  without  putting  up  a 
prayer  to  the  Virgin,  and  vowing  her  a  big  wax  taper,  if  he  had 
success.  But  Francesco  had  too  uneasy,  wandering  a  spirit,  to 
let  him  remain  in  civilized  Europe ;  for  he  had  not  enough  of 
the  avarice  of  his  countrymen  to  content  himself  with  mere 
money-making.  He  wandered  into  Servia  and  Bosnia,  and 
served  among  the  Annatoli,  who  often  lived  by  plundering  the 
Turks,  their  employers.  In  these  countries,  and  in  Russia,  he 
found  many  of  his  countrymen,  who  were  hatching  the  plot  of 
revolution ;  he  became  initiated  into  the  secret,  and  felt  all  his 
old  hatred  of  the  Turks  revive ;  as  soon  as  the  revolt  in  Greece 
broke  out,  Francesco  flew  to  join  the  first  of  the  rebels. 

And  now,  behold  him  in  his  element — the  life  and  spirit  of 
a  band  of  wild  mountain  soldiers.  His  wit  and  humor,  his 
volubility  and  fund  of  anecdote,  and  his  continual  flow  of  spirits, 
made  him  the  delight  of  his  companions  around  the  night-fire. 
It  was  Francesco' s  cheerful  voice  that  roused  them  at  early 
dawn,  it  was  Francesco  who  ever  led  the  way  through  difficult 
or  dangerous  passes  ;  his  never-ceasing  song  cheered  the  weary 
march,  and  his  light  look  and  frolic  eye  were  never  darkened 
by  fatigue.  Methinks  I  see  him  now,  with  his  thirty  light- 


52  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

hearted  companions  in  a  row  behind  him,  rapidly  crossing  a 
plain,  or  toiling  over  a  mountain,  all  life  and  animation,  taking 
up  the  chorus  of  his  song,  and  making  the  mountains  echo  with 
their  shouts.  He  was  always  first  on  the  march,  when  the  path 
was  difficult  to  be  found,  or  a  dangerous  defile  was  to  be  passed; 
his  reputation  for  courage,  sealed  and  confirmed  by  his  many 
scars,  made  him  as  much  respected  by  his  companions,  as  his 
merry  mood  and  liberal  and  dashing  way,  made  him  beloved. 
But  he  was  not  first  in  good  deeds  alone  ;  was  a  village  to  be 
put  under  contribution  for  provisions,  or  sheep  to  be  obtained 
nolens  volens  from  the  shepherd,  he  always  did  the  business. 
He  would  plead  like  a  lawyer,  and  coax  like  a  woman,  and  when 
that  failed,  out  flew  his  yataghan,  and  he  would  head  the  soldiers 
in  their  too  frequent  attacks  on  the  peasantry. 

*  ****** 

Ere  we  gained  the  village  1  we  had  been  discovered  by  the 
peasants,  and  in  an  instant  every  sign  of  life  had  vanished  ; 
sheep,  mules,  fowls,  and  men  had  alike  disappeared  ;  every 
door  and  shutter  was  fastened,  and  one  would  have  supposed 
the  village  totally  uninhabited.  (In  fact,  I  saw  many  of  the  men 
stealing  away  in  the  distance.)  But  the  soldiers  soon  com 
menced  a  clattering  at  the  doors,  and  Francesco,  beckoning  me 
to  follow  him,  selected  one  of  the  best  looking  of  the  mud- 
walled  cottages,  and  began  to  unload  the  mule  before  the  door, 
crying  out  at  the  same  time — "  Come,  come,  old  mother,  open 
your  door,  and  quickly  too,  for  I  have  brought  some  great  men 
for  your  lodgers."  Not  a  soul  answered,  however ;  I  listened 
at  the  door,  but  not  a  sound  was  to  be  heard.  "  Hollo ! 
hollo !  there  within ! "  shouted  Francesco,  coming  up  and 
kicking  violently  against  the  door  ;  "  open,  open ;  what !  all 
gone?  well  then,  here  goes — I'll  stave  in  the  door."  "Oh 
Lord  bless  us  !  Lord  bless  us  !  "  shrieked  a  shrill  voice  from 
within ;  "  Who  is  there,  what  do  ye  want,  and  can't  you  have 
patience  a  moment  till  I  open  ?  There  now,"  said  an  old 
hag,  thrusting  her  wrinkled  face  out  of  the  half-open  door, 

1  In  the  Peloponesus. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  53 

"  what  do  ye  want  ?  "  "  Want,"  says  Francesco,  pushing  in, 
"  want,  old  mother  of  mine  ?  we  want  lodgings,  and  fire,  and 
some  eggs,  and  butter,  and  a  chicken,  forsooth,  if  ye  have  any." 
"  Oh  !  "  shrieked  out  the  old  woman,  "  you  cannot  come  into 
my  house  ;  there  is  nothing  in  it ;  I  have  not  a  bit  of  bread 
even ;  I  swear  to  you,  by  the  Holy  Virgin,  I  have  not  seen 
oil,  nor  butter,  nor  eggs,  these  many  months.  No !  no !  ye 
can't  come  in,"  said  she,  struggling  with  Francesco,  who  kept 
edging  into  the  door-way  ;  "  go  over  to  my  neighbor,  he  is 
rich,  and  has  everything ;  there  is  nothing  in  my  house  that 
ye  can  eat.  There  now !  "  added  she,  after  he  had  fairly  pushed 
her  in,  "  you  see  what  there  is,  and  ye  are  welcome  to  my 
house." 

Changing  now  her  tune  entirely,  she  became  quite  en 
chanted  to  see  us,  and  tried  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  and 
indeed  we  found  it  a  comfortable  place,  though  apparently 
poorly  stocked ;  but  there  was  a  bright  fire  burning  on  the 
earth  floor,  and  other  indications  sufficient  to  guide  Fran 
cesco  in  his  researches. 

"  My  good  mother,"  says  he,  "  how  many  have  you  in  your 
family  ?  "  "  Family,"  said  she,  "  I  have  no  family,  none  but  a 
widowed  daughter,  and  we  are  so  miserably  poor  we  are  al 
most  starved."  But  what  are  all  these  wooden  spoons  for  ?" 
said  he,  drawing  out  a  half  dozen  which  had  been  hastily 
covered  up  by  a  coarse  towel.  "  Spoons  !  spoons  ! "  cried  the 
old  woman,  hurrying  to  take  them  from  him,  "  they  have  been 
lying  there  these  two  months."  "By  my  faith  then,"  said  he, 
smelling  of  them,  "  they  have  kept  the  scent  well,  for,  mother, 
they  smell  of  good  soup ;  and,  bless  me,  they  are  quite  soaked 
yet ;  come,  come,  out  with  the  remnant  of  the  lamb  you  had  for 
dinner."  "  I  eat  lamb !  Lord  bless  me !  I  havn't  seen  meat 
in  these  walls  these  many  months.  I  lent  the  spoons  to-day  to 
neighbor  Yanni,  and  he  sent  them  back  unwashed."  "And 
did  he  send  you  back  bones  also  ?  "  said  Francesco,  picking  up 
two  or  three  little  ribs  from  the  ashes.  "  Come,  come,  cousin, 
out  with  it,  out  with  it,"  said  he  rummaging  around  the  cot 
tage,  the  old  woman  keeping  before  him,  and  at  last  sitting 


54  DR.  s.  G.  HOWE. 

down  on  a  bread  trough  which  was  turned  bottom  upwards, 
she  declared  she  was  old  and  tired  out,  and  just  ready  to 
die.  "  Get  up,"  said  Francesco,  "  get  up  and  let  us  look  un 
der  your  trough."  '•  I  can't  get  up,  I  can't,  there  is  nothing 
here,  by  the  Cross !  nothing ;  "  but  he  pulled  her  up  gently, 
and  turning  over  the  trough,  there  he  found  the  remnant  of 
the  lamb.  "  Nothing  in  the  world,"  said  the  old  woman,  "but 
some  cold  lamb,  and  you  are  entirely  welcome  to  that ;  I 
meant  to  have  given  it  to  you ;  you  are  welcome  my  child," 
said  she,  in  a  coaxing  voice,  "  to  all  I  have  in  my  house.  "  She 
found  it  was  impossible  to  get  rid  of  us,  seeing  that  Whit- 
combe  and  myself  had  hung  up  our  muskets,  taken  off  our 
belts,  and  were  making  ourselves  quite  at  ease  with  our  pipes. 
For  my  part,  I  said  nothimg,  but  amused  myself  with  watch 
ing  the  movements  of  Francesco,  who  searched  round  as 
though  it  had  been  his  mother's  cottage, — looking  now  for 
oil  to  cook  with,  and  now  for  meal  to  bake  bread, — the  old 
woman  following  close  up,  trying  to  divert  his  attention,  from 
the  spot  where  the  things  were  concealed,  and  swearing  by  all 
the  saints  that  she  had  not  the  articles.  But  Francesco,  with 
out  minding  her  continued  to  look  round,  and,  stooping  down, 
he  examined  carefully  the  floor,  which  was  nothing  more  or 
less  than  the  hard  dry  earth  ;  suddenly  he  stopped,  and  began 
scratching  the  dirt  in  a  part  which  seemed  loose.  Then  re 
moving  a  few  inches  of  it,  he  came  to  a  broad  bit  of  wood, 
which  he  removed,  and  found  it  was  the  cover  of  an  immense 
earthen  jar,  holding  several  barrels,  and  filled  with  excellent 
oil.  "  Bring  me  a  dipper,  mother,"  said  he,  coolly.  "  Oh,  is  it 
oil  you  want,  my  son  ?  why,  why  didn't  you  tell  me  before  ? 
we  have  plenty  of  that,  thank  God!"  Flour  and  wine  were 
soon  forthcoming,  and  in  a  short  time  Francesco  had  a  meal 
bannock  ready,  and,  scraping  away  the  ashes,  he  laid  it  on  the 
hot  bricks,  and  covering  it  with  cinders  and  coals,  left  it  to 
cook,  and  proceeded  to  lay  the  table,  which  was  a  round  one 
about  eight  inches  in  height.  Wooden  spoons  and  forks  were 
all  the  furniture,  and  we  squatted  upon  our  heels,  with  six 
soldiers  around  the  bare  board,  drew  our  jackknives,  and  as- 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  55 

saulted  the  bannock  and  the  cold  lamb  with  vigor,  meat  be 
ing  a  luxury  we  had  not  enjoyed  for  several  weeks.  Wine, 
too,  we  had,  and  Francesco,  acting  the  part  of  our  Ganymedl, 
poured  out  to  us,  in  his  silver  cup,  and  enlivened  the  meal 
by  his  stories  and  jokes. 

THE    GRECIAN    BUREAUCRATS,    1831. 

"  Suppose  a  man  wishes  to  go  from  Athens  to  Trip- 
politsa,  a  distance  of  less  than  a  hundred  miles;  he 
must  wait  the  time  and  convenience  of  the  police  of 
Athens,  who,  when  ready,  take  the  height  and  breadth 
of  our  Athenian,  the  length  of  his  nose,  the  color  of 
his  eyes  and  hair.  He  is  '  conn'd  and  scann'd  by  rote, 
set  in  a  note  book,'  and  then  permitted  to  go  on,  after 
paying  the  good  people  for  their  trouble  in  detain 
ing  him.  He  hurries  to  the  Piraeus,  and  finds  the 
little  boat  all  ready,  except  the  passport  (for  boats  that 
run  daily  must  have  a  separate  one,  and  pay  for  it 
too).  Soon  the  captain  of  the  modern  trireme  (they 
have  just  three  oars,  not  three  banks),  returns  swear 
ing,  and  calling  on  the  Virgin  for  aid,  with  such  fury 
that  the  traveler  would  suppose  the  Persians  had 
blocked  up  the  Gulf  of  Salamis;  but  he  finds  it  is  only 
that  his  Themistocles  was  a  minute  too  late  at  the 
police  office;  they  had  sat  down  to  dinner,  and  would 
not  get  up  from  that,  and  their  subsequent  siesta,  for 
two  hours.  Well,  the  two  hours  are  past,  the  breeze 
blows  fair,  and  our  Greek  enters  the  harbor  of  y£gina  at 
sunset,  to  transact  ten  minutes  business;  but  he  is  too 
late,  the  man  in  office  has  just  turned  his  key,  and 
our  boat  and  its  passengers  must  wait  until  the  next 
morning,  before  one  soul  dare  put  foot  on  shore. 
They  remain  cooped  up  all  night,  and  the  next  morn- 


56  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

ing  have  the  satisfaction  of  being  told  at  the  office 
that  their  passports  are  all  in  order,  they  may  go  on 
shore  ;  they  might  have  gone  last  night  if  they  had 
arrived  ten  minutes  before.  After  the  same  delay, 
and  taking  in  a  store  of  olives  and  garlic  for  break 
fast,  they  steer  away  for  Epidaurus.  Here,  after  de 
lays  at  the  custom-house,  their  passports  are  exam 
ined,  countersigned,  and  paid  for,  and  they  jog  on  to 
Napoli,  where  they  are  obliged  to  wait  at  the  gates 
until  the  police  have  examined  their  documents  and 
got  their  pay.  Then  they  go  on  to  Tripolitsa,  and 
enter  there  after  going  through  a  like  visitation  and 
examination.  Thus,  in  a  journey  of  a  hundred  miles, 
the  Greek  comes  under  the  claws  of  the  police  five 
times,  subjected  to  some  expense,  great  vexation,  and 
the  loss  of  more  time  than  would  have  been  necesary 
to  accomplish  his  journey.  Nor  is  this  any  exaggera 
tion;  the  Official  Gazette  of  Greece  lays  down  these 
laws,  and  they  are  strictly  enforced." 

DR.  HOWE'S  CHARITIES,   1827-28. 

The  mention  in  this  passage  of  the  anchorage  at 
^gina  (an  island  in  the  Saronic  Gulf,  an  hour's  sail 
from  Salamis  and  the  Piraeus)  recalls  one  of  Dr. 
Howe's  characteristic  exploits  during  the  revolution, 
in  1827-28.  In  his  autobiography  he  says  : 

"  The  best  service  I  could  then  render  was  to  go  to 
America  and  procure  help.  I  came,  and  I  went  about 
New  England  and  New  York,  and  plead  for  the  starv 
ing  Greeks.  Great  enthusiasm  was  excited  and  warm 
sympathy  manifested  in  valuable  contributions.  I  think 
over  sixty  thousand  dollars  was  the  result  of  this  ap- 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  57 

peal;  and  how  much  in  clothing  is  not  easy  to  estimate. 
As  soon  as  possible,  I  took  charge  of  a  vessel  laden 
with  flour,  and  provisions  and  clothing,  and  hastened 
back  to  Greece,  arriving  in  time  to  prevent  thousands 
from  starving.  These  American  contributions  went 
directly  to  the  people;  and  their  effect  was  very  great, 
not  only  by  relieving  from  hunger  and  cold,  but  by 
inspiring  courage  and  hope.  I  made  several  depots 
in  different  places;  I  freighted  small  vessels  and  ran 
up  the  bays  with  them.  The  people  came  trooping 
from  their  hiding  places,  men,  women,  and  children, 
hungry,  cold,  ragged,  and  dirty.  They  received  ra 
tions  of  flour,  corn,  biscuit,  pork,  etc.,  and  were  clad 
in  the  warm  garments  made  up  by  American  women. 
It  was  one  of  the  happiest  sights  a  man  could  wit 
ness;  one  of  the  happiest  agencies  he  could  discharge. 
They  came,  sometimes  twenty,  thirty,  forty  miles,  on 
foot,  to  get  rations  and  clothing.  Several  vessels 
followed  mine  and  many  distributions  were  made. 

"  An  immense  number  of  families  from  Attica,  from 
Psara,  and  from  other  islands,  had  taken  refuge  in 
yEgina,  and  there  was  the  most  concentrated  suffer 
ing.  I  established  a  main  depot  there,  and  commenced 
a  systematic  distribution  of  the  provisions  and 
clothing.  As  the  Greeks  were  all  idle,  I  concluded  it 
was  not  best  to  give  alms  except  to  the  feeble;  but  I 
commenced  a  public  work  on  which  men,  women,  and 
children  could  be  occupied.  The  harbor  of  ^Egina 
was  not  a  natural  one,  but  the  work  of  the  old  Greeks. 
The  long  walls  projecting  into  the  sea  for  breakwaters 
were  in  pretty  good  condition,  but  the  land  side 
of  the  harbor  was  nearly  ruined  from  being  filled  up 
with  debris  and  washings  from  the  town.  I  got  some 


58  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

men  who  had  a  little  "  gumption  "  and  built  a  coffer 
dam  across  the  inner  side  of  the  harbor.  Then  we 
bailed  out  the  water,  and,  digging  down  to  get  a 
foundation,  laid  a  solid  wall,  which  made  a  beautiful 
and  substantial  quay,  which  stands  to  this  day,  and 
is  called  the  American  Molos  or  Mole.  In  this  work 
as  many  as  five  hundred  people,  men,  women  and 
children,  ordinarily  worked;  on  some  days  as  many 
as  seven  hundred,  I  think. 

"  On  the  hill  in  the  rear  of  the  harbor  was  standing 
a  solitary  column  of  an  old  temple  of  Venus,  or  Juno, 
I  forget  which.  The  foundations  of  this  temple  were 
of  marvelous  extent  and  beauty  of  finish  ;  composed 
of  blocks  of  hewn  stone  of  great  size  and  perfect  reg 
ularity.  They  were  from  four  to  six  feet  long,  three 
to  four  feet  wide,  and  about  eighteen  inches  to  two 
feet  thick  ;  they  were  hewn  perfectly  smooth,  and 
laid  in  regularly  without  cement,  making  a  bed,  if  I 
recollect  right,  about  eight  or  nine  feet  deep.  All 
this  was  buried  deep  under  rubbish  ;  probably  was 
always  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  intended 
to  break  the  shock  of  earthquakes.  At  these  founda 
tions  we  went  to  work  sacrilegiously,  and  toted  the 
huge  blocks  down  the  hill  and  upon  the  mole — and  a 
beautiful  work  it  made.  Besides  this  there  was  an 
immense  amount  of  rubbish  to  be  cleared  out,  and  a 
great  deal  of  sand,  small  stones,  earth  and  the  like  to 
be  brought  and  backed  in  behind  the  wall.  On  this 
men,  women  and  children  worked,  and  for  their  work 
were  paid  in  provisions." 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  59 

THE  DEATH  AND  BURIAL  OF  A  GREEK  WARRIOR. 

It  was  while  Dr.  Howe  was  at  ^Egina,  but  proba 
bly  before  his  distribution  of  supplies  there,  as  above 
described,  that  he  witnessed  the  death,  heard  the 
coronach,  and.  saw  the  interment  of  a  comrade,  Nicolo, 
who  had  fought  by  his  side  on  the  mainland.  The 
same  burial  custom  still  prevails  in  Greece,  and  the 
wailing  is  doubtless  still  practiced  in  the  country 
regions  ;  but  in  Athens,  where  I  saw  many  funerals  in 
1890,  the  custom  does  not  seem  to  be  observed  : 

"  I  was  called  last  evening  to  see  young  Captain 
Nicolo,  one  of  my  old  acquaintances  and  campaign 
ing  companions.  He  was  wounded  in  an  affair  with 
the  Turks  several  days  ago;  not  mortally,  however,  as 
we  thought,  and  had  been  brought  here  for  recovery; 
but  the  moment  I  entered  his  room  last  night,  I  saw 
that  the  hand  of  death  was  upon  him.  He  was  lying 
on  a  hard  mattress  on  the  floor,  and,  as  he  heard  my 
footstep,  he  quickly  turned  his  head,  and  eagerly 
stretching  out  his  hand  to  me  as  I  advanced,  he 
grasped  mine  within  both  of  his  with  a  convulsive 
effort,  as  though  he  would  cling  upon  me  for  life  ; 
and  gazing  wildly  and  with  staring  eyes  in  my  face, 
he  cried,  *  I  am  dying, — but  oh  !  I  cannot  die — will 
not  die — save  me,  oh  !  do  save  me! '  There  was  such 
a  startling  eagerness  in  his  manner,  and  such  horror 
in  his  eyes,  that  I  was  thrown  off  my  guard  ;  he  saw 
the  expression  of  my  face,  and,  letting  go  my  hand, 
he  sunk  back,  and,  looking  up,  muttered  to  himself, 
<  Then  I  must  indeed  die.'  The  poor  fellow  had  been 
called  brave,  and  was  so  in  the  hurry  and  excitement 
of  war  ;  he  tried  to  call  his  courage  and  his  pride  to 


60  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

aid  him  in  his  dreadful  extremity,  and  when  his  tor 
menting  pains  left  him,  he  mastered  his  feelings  so  as 
to  seem  calm  ;  but  there  was  no  calm  in  his  soul  ;  he 
was  dying — resolutely,  indeed,  but  not  resignedly. 

"  I  tried  to  console  him,  and  mentioned  the  vanity 
and  little  worth  of  life.  '  Aye,'  cried  he,  '  you  call 
it  vanity,  you,  who  are  in  full  enjoyment  of  it  ;  but 
were  you  about  to  be  hurled  as  I  am  into  darkness, 
beyond  which  you  can  see  no  light,  you  would  shrink 
back  as  I  do.  Oh,'  continued  he  eagerly,  '  I  wish  I 
could  believe  in  a  God,  and  a  future  state  ;  but  no 
matter.  I  have  done  my  duty  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge  ;  I  will  take  the  extreme  unction,  and  my 
chance  will  be  as  good  as  the  rest.'  The  priest  now 
came  in,  muttering  his  prayers  and  making  crosses 
and  benedictions  ;  the  consecrated  candles  were 
lighted  and  the  silver  incense-pot  began  to  swing 
backward  and  forward,  when  I  left  him  to  his  offices 
and  went  to  my  quarters.  I  had  been  sitting  there 
almost  two  hours  when  I  heard  dreadful  screams  of 
women  in  the  house  of  Nicolo.  I  went  over  and 
found  him  in  his  last  agony,  his  clammy  hands  grasp 
ing  the  coverlid  ;  his  head  was  thrown  back,  his  eyes 
staring  fixedly,  his  mouth  open  as  if  gasping  for 
breath,  which,  however,  came  quick  and  convulsively, 
and  rattled  hollowly  in  his  throat. 

"  It  was  a  dreadful  scene,  in  which  the  dying  man 
acted  but  part  ;  for  the  long  suppressed  agony  of 
grief  had  now  burst  forth — the  mother  lay  upon  the 
floor,  tearing  her  hair,  beating  her  breast,  and  wail 
ing  most  piteously  ;  the  other  female  relatives  were 
alike  affected,  some  were  running  screaming  about 
the  house,  while  others  sat  and  moaned  aloud,  and 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  6l 

accompanied  their  cries  with  violent  gestures.  This 
scene  continued  with  little  relaxation  until  the  suf 
ferer  gasped  his  last  gasp,  and  then  the  screaming, 
the  moaning,  and  tearing  of  hair  were  renewed  more 
violently  than  ever.  Other  women  now  came  in  from 
the  neighborhood — and  I  soon  observed  there  was 
some  system  in  this  scene — for  the  new  comers 
seemed  to  make  ready  as  for  an  encounter,  before 
they  set  up  their  shout;  they  loosened  their  hair, 
shook  it  about  their  shoulders,  and  deranged  their  gar 
ments,  and  then  set  up  their  wailing  in  chorus  with 
the  others.  I  saw,  further,  that  in  a  half  an  hour 
these  wailing  neighbors  seemed  to  spell  each  other, 
for,  when  exhausted  nature  silenced  the  real  grief  of 
the  mother  or  relatives,  or  when  one  of  the  new 
comers  was  obliged  to  stop  to  breathe,  another  would 
strike  in  in  her  place,  and  keep  up  the  clamor. 

"  I  retired  when  the  old  women  began  to  arrange  the 
corpse,  and,  sitting  down  at  the  door  of  my  tent, 
which  looked  into  the  windows  of  Nicolo,  I  gazed 
upon  the  scene,  which  seemed  more  striking  from 
without.  The  windows  were  all  open  ;  lights  were 
flying  about  ;  female  figures,  with  their  hair  stream 
ing  down  their  shoulders,  were  flitting  around,  some 
throwing  up  their  arms,  others  sitting  still  with  their 
heads  lowered  between  their  knees,  others  bending 
over,  and  arranging  the  corpse,  and  all  weeping, 
wailing  and  screaming  aloud.  I  tried  to  shut  out  the 
sound  as  well  as  the  sight,  but  the  noise  was  too 
near  and  too  great.  I  went  out,  and  strolled  about 
till  near  morning.  I  wandered  to  the  ruins  of  the 
ancient  port;  I  mounted  to  the  old  temple  of  Venus 
on  the  hill,  and,  leaning  against  the  long  column, 


62  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

gazed  for  a  while  on  the  beautiful  Gulf  of  Salamis, 
and  tried  to  forget  Nicolo  in  thinking  of  Themisto- 
cles;  but  it  would  not  do.  Facts  are  too  stubborn  for 
fancy.  The  death  of  Nicolo  was  more  to  me  than 
that  of  ten  thousand  Greeks  who  died  twice  ten  cen 
turies  ago,  or  that  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  who 
should  have  died  to-day,  but  a  thousand  leagues  from 
me.  When  I  returned,  I  found  all  was  still,  except 
the  voices  of  two  women,  who  were  hired  mourners, 
and  who  had  commenced  their  functions,  now  that 
the  violent  emotions  of  the  relatives  had  worn  them 
out.  These  two  women  looked,  as  I  saw  them  through 
the  open  windows,  like  two  "  hags  of  hell  "  ;  one  was 
sitting  at  the  head  of  the  corpse,  which  was  laid  out 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  rocking  herself  backward 
and  forward  over  it,  and  chanting  forth  in  cracked 
tones — though  in  regular  cadence — what  I  soon  found 
to  be  a  sort  of  an  address  to  the  dead  body.  The 
other  was  flitting  about  the  room  with  a  taper  in  her 
hand,  and  joining  in  chorus  to  the  chant  of  her  sister 
hag.  Their  song,  or  chant,  was  in  commemoration  of 
the  virtues  and  good  qualities  of  the  deceased,  and 
ran  about  thus  : 

"  Woe  to  us  that  he  is  dead — the  beautiful  boy  !  the  brave 
boy  !  the  sweet  boy  ! 

"  Nicolo  !  Nicolo !  why  did'st  thou  die  ?  Thou  wast  too 
young — too  beautiful — too  brave  to  die.  Thou  wast  the  light  of 
thy  mother's  eyes — the  staff  in  her  hand — the  oil  that  fed  her 
lamp  of  life. 

"  Oh  !  he  is  dead — the  brave  boy  !  The  light  is  gone  out ! 
The  staff  is  broken  !  The  oil  is  exhausted  ! 

"  Thy  mother  sits  in  darkness,  Nicolo  !  Why  did  you  leave 
her  ?  Why  did  not  another  die  for  you  ?  for  none  was  so 
brave,  none  so  beautiful. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  63 

"The  soldiers  loved  thee.  The  Turks  feared  thee.  The 
maids  looked  down  when  Nicolo  approached  them. 

"  Oh  !  woe  is  us  that  the  brave  has  fallen  ! 

"  How  many  enemies  thou  hast  slain !  how  brave  wast  thou 
in  battle !  how  swift  in  the  march  ! 

"  But  thou  art  dead,  brave  boy  !  thou  shalt  never  rise  again  ! 

"  Oh  !  woe  to  us  !  woe  to  thy  aged  mother  !  " 

"  This  morning  the  burial  took  place  with  all  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Greek  Church.  The  procession 
started  off  from  the  house,  headed  by  about  thirty 
priests  in  their  full  robes,  each  bearing  a  long  wax 
taper  in  his  hand  and  singing,  in  clear,  musical  tones, 
the  service  for  the  dead  ;  then  came  the  incense- 
bearers,  swinging  their  silver  incense-pots,  and 
throwing  up  clouds  of  smoke  ;  then  came  the  Host, 
before  which  all  prostrated  themselves  on  their  knees, 
then  followed  the  bishop  in  his  gorgeous  robes,  walk 
ing  under  a  splendid  canopy,  held  up  by  four  priests, 
and  after  him  was  borne  the  corpse  on  an  open  bier, 
dressed  in  his  gayest  robes,  with  flowers  on  his  breast 
and  in  his  hands.  Around  it  walked  the  pale  and 
haggard  relatives,  and  the  more  pale  and  haggard 
looking  hired  mourners,  with  black  robes  and  dishev 
eled  hair.  It  was  a  showy  and  noisy  scene,  for  the 
riches  and  pomp  of  the  church  were  displayed.  The 
song  of  the  priests  and  the  wailing  of  the  mourners 
ceased  not,  and  as  they  passed  along  rapidly,  every 
man  raised  his  cap,  and,  bowing,  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  every  woman  and  child  in  the  streets  knelt 
down,  and  all  muttered  blessings.  All  felt  an  interest 
in  the  scene  ;  all  but  poor  Nicolo.  He  lay  pale  and 
still  on  his  bier,  and  was  borne  along  like  a  victim 
bound  for  the  sacrifice;  and  the  flowers  on  his  breast 


64  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

and  the  flowers  in  his  hands  seemed  to  be  but  in  bit 
ter  mockery  of  his  fate.  Arrived  at  the  grave,  the 
procession  halted  around  it,  and  proceeded  to  the 
last  church  rites  with  pomp  and  parade,  accompanied 
by  such  violent  and  noisy  expressions  of  grief  on  the 
part  of  the  spectators  as  strongly  contrasted,  in  my 
mind,  with  the  simple  solemnity  and  deep  silence 
around  our  graves,  when  their  new  tenants  are  low 
ered  in;  a  silence  broken  by  nought  but  some  ill-sup 
pressed  sob,  or  the  hollow  grating  of  the  ropes  on  the 
descending  coffin. 

"  Poor  Nicolo  was  now  laid  in  his  narrow  bed  with 
out  covering  or  coffin;  the  holy  water  was  sprinkled, 
and  the  last  prayer  said,  and  priests  and  relatives 
were  hurrying  away,  when  I  took  a  last  look  into  the 
grave  where  he  lay  dressed  as  for  a  bridal.  He  had 
not  the  wan  and  hollow  look  of  those  who  die  by  dis 
ease;  and,  but  for  the  marble  whiteness  of  his  face 
and  neck,  made  whiter  by  the  clustering  of  his  long 
dark  locks,  and  the  deep  shadow  of  the  narrow  grave, 
I  could  have  thought  he  slept,  so  beautiful  did  he 
look;  but,  as  I  gazed,  a  shovel  full  of  earth  was 
thrown  upon  him;  his  head  started  and  shook; 
another  and  another  shovel  full  were  thrown  in  on 
his  breast;  the  dark  earth  looked  strangely  black  on 
his  white  kilt,  and,  as  it  fell  on  his  whiter  neck  and 
face,  it  seemed  to  smite  him  too  rudely,  and  I  turned 
away,  more  affected  than  when  I  had  seen  him  in  his 
agony." 


CHAPTER  V. 

DR.    HOWE   AS   A    HISTORIAN. 

ALTHOUGH  Dr.  Howe  spent  most  of  his  time  in 
Greece,  from  1824  to  1830,  and  fought  for  her  free 
dom  both  by  land  and  sea — for  he  became  surgeon- 
in-chief  of  the  Greek  fleet — and  was,  therefore,  well 
qualified  to  write  the  story  of  the  long  contest,  he  yet 
strangely  undervalued  the  book,  "  An  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Greek  Revolution,"  which  he  hastily 
wrote  in  the  interval  of  his  active  service,  and  pub 
lished  in  New  York,  in  August,  1828.  He  would 
never  revise  it,  and,  in  later  years,  he  bought  up 
copies  and  destroyed  them.  It  has,  indeed,  many  de 
fects,  and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  very  carefully 
read  in  proof,  by  the  author  or  any  friend  to  whom 
he  may  have  entrusted  it.  He  wrote  it  in  five  months 
of  1828,  amid  many  other  occupations,  while  advo 
cating  the  claims  of  the  Greeks  to  the  friendship  and 
benevolence  of  the  American  people  ;  and,  as  he  says 
in  his  preface,  he  had  hardly  finished  it,  when  he  was 
called  upon  suddenly  to  return  to  Greece.  He  brings 
it  down  to  the  accession  of  Capo  d'Istria  as  first  Presi 
dent  of  Greece,  January  19,  1828  ;  but  he  describes 
very  briefly  the  last  few  months  of  the  war,  which 

(65) 


66  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

closed  virtually  with  the  naval  battle  of  Navarino, 
October  20,  1827,  when  the  Turkish  fleet  was  de 
stroyed  by  the  combined  squadrons  of  England, 
France,  and  Russia.  Fighting  continued  for  many 
months  afterwards,  and  the  country  was  long  dis 
turbed  by  factions,  which  could  not  tolerate  a  Greek 
ruler,  and  this  led  to  the  election  of  a  foreign  prince, 
after  the  assassination  of  Capo  d'Istria  by  the  young 
Mavromichalis,  in  October,  1831.  The  chief  events 
of  the  war  appear,  however,  in  Dr.  Howe's  history; 
and  the  characters  of  the  leading  men  are  sketched 
with  vigor  and  impartiality.  It  will,  therefore,  be 
useful  to  copy  some  passages  from  this  book  as  well 
as  from  the  published  or  unpublished  diaries  and  let 
ters  of  Dr.  Howe,  in  order  to  illustrate  better  this  ad 
venturous  period  of  his  life.  He  must  have  had  the 
purpose,  at  one  time,  of  writing  out  more  fully  his 
own  adventures,  for  this  he  began  to  do  in  those 
magazine  sketches  already  quoted;  but  after  he  took 
up  the  cause  of  the  blind  in  America  he  never  found 
time,  and  he  soon  lost  the  inclination  to  describe  the 
romantic,  often  happy,  but  sometimes  shudderingly 
painful,  fashion  of  his  life.  He  always  returned  to 
Greece  when  he  could  revisit  it — in  1844,  in  1867, 
and,  perhaps,  at  other  times — with  keen  interest;  he 
long  corresponded  with  George  Finlay,  David  Urqu- 
hart,  and  other  friends  whom  he  had  found  in  Greece; 
but  he  was  too  busy  with  practical  affairs  to  write  a 
monumental  history,  as  Finlay  did,  or  to  qarry  on  a 
warfare  of  pamphlets,  like  Urquhart.  Nor  did  he, 
like  Trelawny,  throw  his  recollections  together  in  a 
random  but  fascinating  book.  That  he  might  have 
done  this,  these  extracts  will  prove  : 


YOUTHFUL  DARING.  67 

PETRO  BEY  OR  MAVROMICHALIS. 

Argolis,  and  the  district  of  Corinth  were  (1821),  soon  in 
revolt ;  but  no  man  so  much  distinguished  himself  as  Petro 
Mavromichalis,  Bey  of  Maina.  He  had  been  placed  by  the 
Turks  in  this  situation ;  his  post  was  lucrative,  his  influence 
over  his  countrymen  very  great,  and  he  had  no  prospect  of 
making  his  condition  better  by  the  revolt ;  but  he  listened  not 
a  moment  to  any  thought  but  that  of  the  liberty  of  his  country ; 
and,  warmly  seconded  by  his  brave  brothers  and  sons,  he  led 
the  Mainotes  from  their  mountains,  and  possessed  himself  of 
Calamata,  and  the  fine  country  about  it.  The  Turks,  surprised 
by  the  suddenness  and  generality  of  the  insurrection,  thought  of 
nothing  but  personal  safety ;  those  who  could  escaped  to  the 
fortified  towns  ;  others  hastily  shut  themselves  up  in  the  little 
towers  with  which  the  country  abounds ;  but  being  without 
provisions  they  were  obliged  soon  to  yield.  The  news  reached 
the  Ionian  Islands,  and  excited  the  greatest  enthusiasm  among 
the  Greeks.  Colocotroni,  who  had  been  living  a  kind  of  exile 
there,  with  his  brave  nephew,  Niketas,  immediately  crossed 
over  to  the  Morea  ;  while  the  inhabitants  prepared  an  expedi 
tion  to  follow  them. 

Mavromichalis  has  since  taken  a  most  active  and  prominent 
part  in  the  Revolution,  and  his  name  is  well  known  abroad.  It 
is  a  pity  that  Waddington,  whose  almost  every  word  is  valuable, 
should  say  of  him  :  "  Petro  Bey  is  a  fat,  dull,  well-looking  per 
sonage,  who  is  addicted  to  no  particular  class  of  political  opin 
ions,  and  appears  peculiarly  unenlightened  by  any  sort  of  for 
eign  information.  He  is  understood  to  have  made  great 
progress  (for  an  Oriental)  in  the  science  of  gastronomy,  and  'is 
willing  to  embrace  any  form  of  government  which  will  leave 
him  riches,  and  give  him  peace,  abundance,  and  security.  It  is 
then  imagined,  he  would  introduce  French  cookery  among  the 
Mainotes,  as  an  excellent  substitute  for  the  indifferent  potations 
of  their  Spartan  ancestors."  Now,  all  this  is  very  fine,  and  for 
the  most  part  true  ;  but  it  should  not  have  been  said,  or  more 
should  have  been  added  to  explain.  Still  more  ungenerous  is 


68  I>R.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  flippant  observation  of  Mr.  Emerson,1  who,  if  he  knew 
nothing  of  Mavromichalis,  but  that  "  he  is  a  good-humored, 
round-faced  fellow,  who  seems  remarkable  for  nothing  more 
than  his  appetite  and  epicurism,"  should  have  said  nothing.  It 
is  unfair,  in  speaking  of  a  public  character,  to  set  forth  merely 
his  personal  defects,  or  one  of  his  foibles,  and  leave  him  to  be 
judged  by  that.  Mavromichalis,  it  is  true,  is  fat,  and  a  gour 
mand  ;  he  had  rather  send  to  Marathon  for  lamprey  eels,  and 
luxuriously  eat  them  from  a  white  plate  with  a  knife  and  fork 
than  sit  down  on  the  ground  with  Colocotroni,  and  tear  to 
pieces  with  his  fingers,  a  lamb  which  had  been  roasted  whole 
on  a  wooden  stake  by  a  dirty  soldier,  who  basted  it  by  rubbing 
in  oil.  But  then  he  does  not  buy  his  eels,  with  money  unjustly 
wrung  from  the  peasantry ;  and,  though  he  "  waddles  in  his 
gait,"  he  has  been  oftener  seen  waddling  toward  the  enemy 
than  from  them.  True,  he  would  infinitely  prefer  that  the 
Turks  should  come  to  him  and  fight,  for  he  dislikes  locomo 
tion  ;  but  he  would  not  give  way  an  inch  ;  and  he  has  shown, 
that  when  they  would  not  come  to  him,  he  could  go  after 
them. 

He  had  enjoyed,  before  the  Revolution,  the  place  of  Governor 
of  Maina.  That  mountainous  province  of  the  Morea,  which 
includes  part  of  Lacedaemon,  was  inhabited  by  such  a  turbu 
lent,  warlike  set  of  men,  that  the  Turks,  unable  to  keep  it  in 
subjection,  had  made  a  kind  of  compromise,  and  appointed  a 
Greek  to  govern  it,  who  should  collect  the  revenues  and  pay 
them  over,  without  the  province  being  troubled  with  the  pres 
ence  of  Mussulmans.  Petro  Mavromichalis  Was  in  this  post 
when  the  insurrection  broke  out,  and  possessed  such  an 
influence  over  the  Mainotes,  that,  separated  as  the  province  is 
from  the  rest  of  the  Morea,  by  strong  natural  divisions,  he 
might  have  prevented  them  from  joining  so  soon  in  the  revolt, 
and  kept  his  own  lucrative  situation.  But  the  first  shot  was 
hardly  fired  i:i  the  Morea,  the  insurrection  was  yet  in  its  infancy, 

1  Not  R.  W.  Emerson,  but  another  American  who  had  visited 
Greece. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  69 

and  its  result  entirely  uncertain,  when  he  hastened  to  join  it ; 
and  his  subsequent  exertions,  the  generous  sacrifices  of  his 
family,  the  daring  courage  and  heroic  death  of  his  sons  and 
nephews,  certainly  entitle  him  to  respect.  Rev.  Mr.  Swan  says 
in  his  journal :  "  In  the  morning  we  resumed  our  conference 
with  Mavromichalis  relative  to  the  release  of  his  son.  Tears 
stood  in  his  eyes  when  he  told  us  the  misfortunes  of  his  family. 
One  of  his  children  fell  at  Carysto,  another  at  Neo  Castro, 
while  a  third  was  prisoner  to  the  Turks  in  Modon  ;  his  brother, 
at  this  time  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  at  Napoli.  These 
circumstances  he  enumerated  to  prove  the  vivacity  of  his 
patriotism,  and  to  show  the  exertion  his  family  had  made.  He 
had  supported  the  revolution  from  the  very  commencement ; 
and  could  we  be  the  means  of  emancipating  his  son,  nothing 
within  the  compass  of  his  ability  should  be  wanting  to  testify 
his  gratitude,  not  though  it  were  the  last  drop  of  his  blood. 

A  few  years  later  when  Capo  d'Istria  had  quar 
reled  with  this  family  of  Mavromichalis  (some  of 
whom  afterwards  assassinated  the  President  at 
Nauplia),  Dr.  Howe  wrote  as  follows  from  Paris,  to 
a  certain  extent  justifying  the  old  chieftain  in  his 
feud  with  Capo  d'Istria,  whom  Howe  had  learned  to 
look  on  as  the  oppressor  of  his  people.  In  this  he 
was  partly  right  and  partly  wrong;  the  purposes  of 
this  first  President  of  the  Greeks  were  good,  but  he 
had  little  skill  at  governing,  and  was  encompassed 
with  difficulties  of  all  sorts. 

The  venerable  Mavromichalis,  who  so  much  distinguished 
himself  during  the  bloody  struggle  for  liberty,  was  one  of  Capo 
d'Istria's  Senators,  and  one  who,  from  his  simplicity  of  charac 
ter,  had  long  been  bamboozled  and  deceived  by  him  ;  but  the 
old  man  at  last  opened  his  eyes  and  kicked;  and,  astonished  at 
finding  he  was  not  the  free  man  he  supposed  himself,  he  sud 
denly  left  Napoli  (not  with  the  best  intentions  I  grant),  to 


70  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

return  to  his  own  mountains,  where  he  is  venerated  as  a  feudal 
lord.  He  left  behind  him  a  letter  for  Capo  d'Istria — from  which 
I  extract  a  few  sentences  (for  it  is  published) : 

"Among  the  first  to  obey  the  call  of  my  country  to  arms,  I 
have  ever  sought  to  be  useful  to  her:  the  blood  of  my  brothers, 
of  my  sons,  of  my  relations,  poured  out  in  profusion  on  the 
soil  of  the  Peloponesus,  is  proof  of  the  devotion  of  my  family. 
I  seek  not,  from  vanity,  to  parade  my  services  to  my  country  ; 
but,  for  her  I  sacrificed  a  brilliant  and  commanding  situation  ; 
for  her'  sake  I  have  been  ten  years  separated  from  my  family, 
afflicted  by  the  loss  of  its  dearest  members,  and  reduced  to  the 
most  distressing  poverty.  Your  Excellency  was  called  to  the 
head  of  the  nation  in  virtue  of  a  contract  which  guaranteed  to 
it  a  just  and  paternal  government,  and  I  conceal  not  the  fact 
that  I  cooperated  in  your  nomination,  confident  of  the  liberal 
sentiments  which  report  attributed  to  you.  What  has  been  my 
surprise  when  I  saw  the  first  symptoms  of  your  arbitrary 
measures ! " 

THE    TWO    IPSELANTIS    OF    FANAR. 

Alexander  Ipselanti  was  brave,  without  enterprise  ;  learned, 
without  a  knowledge  of  men ;  and  vain,  without  self-confi 
dence.  He  was  born  at  Constantinople,  and  educated  in  the 
light,  frivolous,  Fanariote  style,  which  fitted  only  for  intrigue. 
He  entered  into  the  service  of  Russia,  where  he  lost  an  arm  ; 
and  in  that  service  he  had,  without  military  talents,  arrived  to 
the  rank  of  a  Major-General,  when  he  was  called  by  the  Heta- 
ria  to  excite,  and  head  an  insurrection  in  Greece.  He  began 
by  sending  emissaries  to  the  different  parts  of  Greece,  not  to 
make,  on  his  own  part,  preparations  ;  but  to  sound  the  princi 
pal  men,  and  persuade  them  to  make  ready  to  receive  him,  as 
the  future  commander-in-chief.  He  made  great  promises,  and 
talked  in  no  obscure  terms  of  assistance  from  Russia.  He 
employed,  among  many  most  unworthy  characters,  one,  whose 
name  alone  would  have  honored  the  expedition  which  his 
future  exertions  solely  kept  from  being  disgraceful,  Captain 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  71 

Georgaki,  an  Olympiote ;  who  enjoyed  the  post  of  chief  of  the 
armed  police  under  the  Turks,  and  was  thus  enabled,  without 
suspicion,  to  collect  soldiers. 

A  finer  opportunity  to  run  the  race  of  ambition  could  not  be 
presented  to  a  man  of  genius,  than  had  Demetrius  Ipsilanti ; 
one  of  ordinary  talent  even,  without  his  personal  defects,  might 
have  done  much  ;  but  these  were  great.  He  is  about  forty 
years  of  age  (1828)  ;  but  being  small  of  stature,  his  gaunt,  and 
almost  skeleton-like  figure  and  bald  head  give  him  the  appear 
ance  of  premature  old  age ;  while  his  nearness  of  sight,  a  dis 
agreeable  twang  of  the  voice,  and  a  stiff,  awkward,  and 
embarrassed  manner,  excite  a  disagreeable  feeling  in  any  one 
introduced  to  him,  amounting  almost  to  pity.  But  Demetrius 
Ipselanti  has  not  the  character  which  his  exterior  seems  to 
indicate  ;  he  possesses  that  best  kind  of  courage,  a  cool  indiff 
erence  to  danger  ;  is  free  from  the  besetting  sin  of  his  country 
men,  avarice ;  is  a  sincere  patriot ;  and,  when  once  the  reserve 
of  first  acquaintance  is  worn  off,  he  proves  the  kind  and  gener 
ous  friend.  Unfortunately  for  him,  he  was  surrounded  by  a  set 
of  weak-minded,  vain  young  men,  whose  sole  recommendation 
was  their  talent  of  flattering ;  and  who  probably  suggested  to 
him  the  idea  of  setting  up  ridiculous  pretensions  of  superiority ; 
which  people  will  never  submit  to,  in  one  deficient  of  the  talent 
and  power  to  enforce  them. 

PRINCE    MAVROCORDATO. 

About  this  time  (1822)  arrived  at  the  camp  from  Missil- 
onghi,  Alexander  Mavrocordato ;  a  man  destined  entirely  to 
eclipse  the  Ipselantis,  and  to  take  the  lead  in  the  Revolution. 
Alexander  Mavrocordato  (called  by  courtesy  Prince)  is  of  that 
family  so  dear  to  Greece,  from  the  patriotic  labors  of  some  of 
its  members,  who  have  enjoyed  high  honors  about  the  Porte. 
Alexander  was  early  initiated  into  that  system  of  intrigue  and 
political  cunning,  which  is  the  leading  trait  in  the  character  of 
the  Greeks  of  the  Fanar ;  and  he  was  employed  as  chief  minis- 


72  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

ter  by  his  uncle,  the  Hospodar,  or  Prince  of  Moldavia.     Alex 
ander  Mavrocordato  is  now  (1828),  about  thirty-eight  years  of 
age  ;  rather  below  the  middling  height,  but  perfectly  well  made; 
his  fine  olive  complexion  looks  darker  than  it  really  is,  from  the 
jetty  blackness  of  his  hair,  which  hangs  in  ringlets  about  his 
face,  and  from  his  large  mustachios  and  sparkling  black  eyes. 
His  manners  are  perfectly  easy  and  gentlemanlike  ;  and  though 
the  first  impresssion  would  be,  from  his  extreme  politeness,  and 
continual  smiles,  that  he  was  a  good-natured,  silly  fop,  yet  one 
soon  sees  fro^rn  the  keen,  inquisitive  glances  which  involuntarily 
escape  him,  that   he  is   concealing  under   an  almost   childish 
lightness  of  manner,  a  close  and  accurate  study  of 'his  visitor. 
He  speaks  fluently  seven  languages  ;  and,  having  been  an  accur 
ate  observer  of  men  and  manners,  can  make  his  conversations 
extremely  instructive  ;  his  political  talents  are  of  the  very  first 
order,  and  his  mental  resources  great.     He  has  a  just  confi 
dence  in  his  own  powers ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  has  not  that 
personal  firmness  and  hardihood  necessary  in  the  leader  of  a 
revolution.     He  cannot  be  called  cowardly,  for  he  will  reso 
lutely  put  himself  in  situations  which  he  knows  to  be  danger 
ous  ;  yet,  when  the  danger  actually  arrives,  he,  in  spite  of  him 
self,  loses  his  coolness  and  presence  of  mind.     There  is  but  one 
opinion  in  Greece  about  the  talents  of  Mavrocordato,  which  all 
allow  to  be  very  great ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  in  respect  to  his 
virtues.     His  friends  ascribe  every  action  to  the  most  disinter 
ested  patriotism ;    but  his  enemies  hesitate  not  to  pronounce 
them  all  to  have  for  their  end  his  paYty  or  private  interest ;  and 
they  say  that  he  would  sooner  subject  his  country  to  the  Turks 
than  have  his  political  opponents  get  the  credit  of  saving  her. 
But  here,  as   is  often   the  case,  truth  lies    between   the  two 
extremes.     Let  his  enemies  avow  that  he  loves  his  country,  and 
has  labored  hard  to  benefit  her  ;  and  let  his  friends  confess  that 
he  is  ambitious,  and  has  always  had  a  considerable  regard  to 
his  own  political  interest ;  thus  a  nearer  approach  to  his  true 
character  will  be  had,    As  to  his  intriguing  and  crooked  policy, 
it   may  be  said,  that    his    excellence  in  it    alone  kept  up    his 
influence  ;  he  could  not  oppose  the  schemes  of  his  enemies  but 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  73 

by  using  the  same  arms  he  was  attacked  with :  the  only  way  to 
escape  a  mine  is  by  countermining. 

KANARIS    THE    ADMIRAL. 

The  successful  accomplishment  of  his  daring  act  completely 
established  his  fame  ;  congratulations  poured  in  upon  him,  and 
every  Greek  was  proud  of  the  name  of  Kanaris,  except 
Kanaris  himself.  He  is  by  birth  an  Ipsariote,  and  had  hitherto 
been  known  only  by  those  immediately  about  him,  who  loved 
him  for  his  mildness,  and  goodness  of  heart,  and  respected  him 
for  his  sterling  integrity.  No  one  would  ever  divine  the  char 
acter  of  Kanaris  from  his  personal  appearance.  He  is  about 
thirty-four  years  of  age  (1828),  of  low  stature,  slender  but 
well  made ;  and  his  mild,  interesting  countenance  bespeaks 
rather  feminine  goodness  of  heart  than  what  he  really  pos 
sesses — a  mind  that  knows  no  fear.  He  appears  insensible 
to  clanger  ;  and  his  resolutions,  which  might  be  easily  altered 
by  persuasion,  are  made  stubborn  by  open  opposition,  and  fresh 
obstacles  are  to  him  only  inducements  for  fresh  exertions.  He 
loves  his  country  with  the  sincere,  unostentatious  love  of  a 
patriot ;  and  he  calmly  and  steadily  continues  to  make  every 
exertion  for  her  good,  in  the  conviction  that  he  is  doing  only 
his  duty.  He  boasts  not  the  performance  of  that,  of  which  the 
neglect  would  be  a  crime,  and  he  seems  to  look  for  no  other 
reward  than  the  proud  consciousness  of  having  materially  con 
tributed  to  his  country's  emancipation. 

'DEATH  OF  MARCO  BOTZARIS.  1823. 

Hearing  that  a  body  of  Turks  had  been  sent  by  Yussuf  to 
land  at  Creonero,  above  Missilonghi,  to  attack  him  in  flank, 
Marco  immediately  flew  to  the  shore,  fell  upon  them  while 
landing,  drove  them  back  to  their  ships  ;  and  then  turned  to 
oppose  the  progress  of  Mustapha  Pasha,  who,  with  12,000 
Turks,  was  rapidly  advancing  to  enter  Acarnania.  With  an 


74  DR-    S.    G.    HOWE. 

extraordinary  celerity  of  movement,  Marco  arrived  at  Karpen- 
isi,  and,  on  the  plain  below  him,  found  Mustapha  Pasha 
encamped  with  his  whole  army.  The  situation  of  Botzaris  * 
was  most  critical ;  but  instead  of  daunting  him,  it  only  called 
forth  the  whole  faculties  of  his  active  mind,  and  nerved  him  for 
great  resolves.  He  summoned  all  the  wild  chiefs  of  his  band 
about  him,  and,  addressing  them  in  his  persuasive  way,  stated 
the  peculiar  difficulties  of  their  situation ;  "  We  have  no  store 
of  provisions,  our  ammunition  is  short,  our  numbers  are  small, 
the  passes  are  not  strong;  must  we  retreat  then?  We  shall 
not  suffer  in  doing  so,  but  we  shall  leave  this  horde  of  barbar 
ians  to  pour  down  upon  the  plains  of  Acarnania,  and  the  whole 
country  as  far  as  Missilonghi ;  and  to  spread  terror,  rapine,  and 
murder  over  the  whole  of  it.  We  can  neither  maintain  our 
post  then,  nor  quit  it  with  honor.  But  there  is  one  resource  ; 
we  will  fall  upon  the  enemy,  numerous  as  he  is  ;  the  darkness 
will  conceal  our  numbers,  and  the  surprise  may  overcome  all 
his  resistance  ;  we  may  rout  him,  and  the  plunder  of  his  camp 
may  supply  our  wants."  He  then  proceeded  with  Yonkos  to 
arrange  his  plans ;  he  chose  400  Suliotes  to  attend  immediately 
about  his  person,  and  penetrate  with  him  to  the  center  of  the 
enemy's  camp  at  midnight.  The  rest  of  the  men  were  to  be 
divided  into  three  parties,  who  should  proceed  to  different 
points,  and  at  the  signal  from  Botzaris,  were  to  make  a  simul 
taneous  attack. 

About  ten  o'clock,  on  the  night  of  August  19,  1823,  every 
thing  being  arranged,  Botzaris  with  his  band  of  Suliotes, 
started  on  his  daring  undertaking.  They  passed  the  outposts 
of  the  Turks,  by  speaking  to  them  in  the  Albanian  tongue,  and 
telling  them  they  had  come  from  Omer  Pasha,  from  whom 
reinforcements  were  expected.  Botzaris  thus  traversed  a  con 
siderable  part  of  their  camp,  amid  the  thousands  who  slept  in 
confident  security  ;  he  had  nearly  reached  the  center,  when  he 
sounded  his  bugle,  and  was  answered  by  the  wild  shouts  of 


1  The  Greek  pronunciation  of  this  name  is  not  Botzaris,  as  Hal- 
leek  gave  it,  but  Votzaris, — B  in  Greek  being  V. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  75 

his  men,  who  began  the  work  of  destruction.  The  Turks  were 
awakened  to  find  enemies  in  the  midst  of  them,  with  sabre  and 
pistol ;  while  the  rattle  of  musketry  from  the  Greeks  on  the 
outside,  showed  they  were  surrounded,  and  they  knew  not  by 
how  many.  The  surprise,  the  darkness,  and  the  shouting,  made 
useless  all  attempts  to  give  orders  ;  the  sleeping  soldier,  so 
rudely  awakened,  thought  only  of  firing  his  musket  upon  whom 
soever  he  saw  near  him,  without  knowing  whether  he  were 
friend  or  foe  ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  whole  camp  was  a 
scene  of  uproar  and  confusion,  in  which  each  one  thought  only 
of  safety  in  flight.  Amid  all  this  Botzaris  pushed  on,  animat 
ing  his  men  to  deal  death  around  them,  shouting  aloud,  and 
calling  them  to  follow  him  to  the  tent  of  the  Pasha,  which  he 
had  nearly  reached,  when  suddenly  his  voice  was  hushed  ;  he 
fell,  struck  by  a  random  shot,  and  died  in  an  instant.  The  vic 
tory  was  complete,  considerable  numbers  of  Turks  were  slain, 
the  army  was  dispersed,  and  their  camp  plundered  :  but  it  was 
a  dearly  bought  victory.  Greece  could  not  rejoice  at  it,  for  she 
had  lost  her  bravest  and  best  chief. 

LORD    BYRON    IN    GREECE. 

[One  of  the  last  letters  written  by  Botzaris  was  to 
Byron,  then  at  Cefalonia;  and  when  the  poet  reached 
Missolonghi,  he  took  the  Suliots  of  Botzaris  into  his 
pay.  His  career  in  Greece  was  brief,  but  it  is  one 
of  the  most  pleasing  portions  of  his  strange  life,  and 
Dr.  Howe  never  failed  to  applaud  it.  In  his  "  His 
tory  "  is  this  passage.] 

With  the  faults  and  foibles  of  Byron,  Greece  had  nothing  to 
do,  she  knew  nothing  of  them ;  to  her  he  was  only  o  M.sydXo's 
nai  KaXoS — "  the  great  and  good."  x  Greece  knew  him  only 

1  Crossing  the  Gulf  of  Salamis  one  day  in  a  boat  with  a  rough 
mountain  captain  and  his  men,  I  pulled  out  a  volume  of  Byron's 
works,  and  was  reading.  The  wind  blowing  open  the  leaves,  the 
Captain  caupht  a  glimpse  of  the  portrait,  and  recognized  it.  He 
begged  to  take  the  book,  and  looking  for  a  moment  with  melan 
choly  at  the  face  of  the  noble  lord,  he  kissed  it  and  passed  it  to  his 
men, saying,  rjrov  /*Ey<xA.o<s  noa  KaA.o$ — ' '  He  was  great  and  good." 


7&  DR.   S.    G.    HOWE. 

as  the  man  whose  early  admiration  of  her,  expressed  in  the 
strong  and  glowing  language  of  poetic  genius  had  served  to  fix 
the  attention  of  many  upon  her ;  as  the  man  who  when  she  rose, 
and  commenced  her  struggle  for  freedom,  while  her  prospects 
were  yet  uncertain  and  dark,  left  the  enjoyments  of  those 
pleasures  and  luxuries,  which  wealth  and  exalted  station  could 
command,  to  share  with  her  privations  and  danger  ;  to  expend 
in  her  cause,  his  fortune  ;  and  to  sacrifice  in  her  service,  and  on 
her  shore,  his  life.  If  there  was  a  man  whose  Philhellenism 
was  ardent  and  unaffected  ;  if  there  was  a  man  whose  wishes 
for  the  good  of  Greece,  and  whose  exertions  to  promote  it,  were 
sincere,  strong,  and  untiring ;  if  there  was  a  man  who  merits 
her  everlasting  gratitude — that  man  was  Byron,  and  Byron 
will  have  it. 

KARRAISKAKIS,    THE    GREEK    GIPSY. 

Karraiskakis,  at  his  death  in  1827,  was  about  forty  years  of 
age;  rather  above  the  common  height  and  slender,  but  with 
out  anything  very  remarkable  in  his  personal  appearance.  He 
was  probably,  a  natural  son  of  the  famous  chief  Isko  and  had 
distinguished  himself  before  the  war  as  a  daring  Klepht.  He 
was  unlettered  but  had  a  great  fund  of  natural  shrewdness,  and 
an  apparently  intuitive  perception  of  character.  His  former 
faults  were  forgotten,  and  he  was  at  last  confided  in  more  than 
any  other  chief ;  he  never  distressed  the  government  for  money, 
never  harassed  the  peasantry.  To  his  courage  and  skill  in 
mountain  warfare  he  added  the  greatest  prudence,  and  was  as 
able  in  deceiving  as  fighting  his  enemy.  At  this  particular 
crisis,  his  loss  was  an  irreparable  one  to  Greece.  His  wound 
had  been  slightly  dressed  on  shore,  and  he  was  then  carried  on 
board  one  of  the  vessels  of  Lord  Cochrane  ;  here  he  was  exam 
ined,1  and  found  to  be  mortally  wounded.  His  desire  to  see 
Cochrane  was  extreme ;  and  when  his  lordship  came  on  board, 


By  Dr.  Howe  himself. 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  77 

and  began  to  pay  him  some  high  compliments  on  his  past 
actions,  the  dying  chief  waved  his  hand  with  an  impatient  air, 
to  cut  him  short,  and  said  on  enoc^a,  sxajua;  on  tyive, 
eytve;  TcSpa,  did  TO  juskkov; — "  What  I  have  done,  I  have 
done ;  what  has  happened,  has  happened  ;  now  for  the  future." 
He  then  entered  into  an  anxious  and  long  conversation  about 
the  prospects  of  the  country ;  he  ended  by  solemnly  charging 
Cochrane  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  Greece  ;  and  then 
attended  to  the  arrangements  for  his  family.1 

In  the  gallery  of  chieftains  and  statesmen  and 
naval  commanders  whose  portraits,  statues,  and 
busts  adorn  a  room  in  one  of  the  great  government 
museums  at  Athens,  is  the  lovely  grave-monument  of 
Botzaris,  as  well  as  excellent  portraits  of  him,  of  old 
Mavromichalis  and  his  sons  and  nephews,  of  Niketas, 
etc. — vigorous,  handsome,  wilful  men,  such  as  Ken 
tucky  and  Carolina  used  to  send  forth  in  the  years 
before  our  civil  war.  They  are  brilliantly  dressed  in 
the  Albanian  costume,  with  pistols  at  their  belts  and 
swords  by  their  sides  or  in  their  hands;  and  they  fully 
justify  by  their  bearing  the  character  which  Dr.  Howe 
has  given  them  here. 


1  George  Finley,  in  his  History  of  the  Revolution,  has  a  striking 
description  of  Karraiskakis,  and  remarks  that  he  was  of  gipsy 
blood  ;  this  is  confirmed  to  the  eye  by  his  portrait  in  the  gal 
lery  at  Athens  which  I  saw  in  March  1890.  I  have  heard  Dr.  Howe 
describe  at  more  length  the  death  of  the  chief.  He  was  then  on 
board  the  vessel  of  Captain  Hastings  off  Piraeus. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DR.    HOWE    COLONIZES    CORINTH    AND    LEAVES    GREECE. 

TWICE  has  Howe  engaged  in  a  fruitless  effort  to 
take  Crete  away  from  the  Turks — in  1826,  and  again 
in  1866-67.  He  describes  the  first  failure  at  some 
length  in  his  history.  The  expedition  was  composed 
of  1,200  Greeks  and  Philhellenes,  commanded  by  a 
Russian  Greek,  named  Calliergi  ;  it  succeeded  in 
capturing  the  strong  Venetian  fortress  of  Grabousa, 
or  Garabusi,  in  the  northwest  of  Crete,  which  the 
Turks  were  eighteeen  years  in  taking  by  siege  from 
the  Venetians.  Eleven  Cretans  surprised  it  in  1826, 
and  Calliergi  held  it  for  months  ;  but  could  gain  no 
footing  on  the  main  island  of  Crete.  Dr.  Howe  said 
in  1857: 

In  1826,  among  other  adventurous  affairs,  I  went  with  the 
small  expedition  that  made  an  inroad  into  Crete.  I  was  shut 
up  some  time  in  the  rocky  fortress  of  Garabusi,  and  had  some 
difficulty  in  getting  off  alive.  .  In  1827,  I  served  with  Hastings 
on  board  the  steamer  Perseverance,  and  was  in  the  action  at 
Piraeus,  Oropos,  Volo,  etc.1  I  had  been  induced  by  Mavro- 
cordato  and  others  to  organize  something  like  a  regular  surgical 
service  in  the  fleet,  and  was  appointed  with  the  high-sounding 
title  of  Archichirurgos  or  Surgeon-in-chief. 

1  These  are  described  at  some  length  in  Howe's  history.  Oropos 
is  near  Marathon  ;  Volo  farther  north. 

(78) 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  79 

In  one  of  my  journeyings  I  found  a  sick  straggler,  a  deserter 
probably  from  the  present  army,  who  was  by  trade  a  wheel 
wright.  After  curing  him  up,  I  got  him  to  build  a  cart,  and  it 
was  such  a  marvel  that  the  peasantry  flocked  from  all  the 
neighboring  district  to  see  it,  having  never  seen  a  wheeled  vehi 
cle  before. 

Afterwards  I  applied  to  the  Government,  and  obtained  a  large 
tract  of  land  upon  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  where  I  founded  a 
colony  of  exiles.  We  put  up  cottages,  procured  seed,  cattle,  and 
tools,  and  the  foundations  of  a  flourishing  village  were  laid. 
Capo  d'Istria  had  encouraged  me  in  the  plan  of  the  colony,  and 
made  some  promises  of  help,  The  Government  granted  ten 
thousand  stremmata  x  of  land  to  be  free  from  taxes  for  five 
years :  but  they  could  not  give  much  practical  help.  I  was 
obliged  to  do  everything,  and  had  only  the  supplies  sent  out 
by  the  American  committees  to  aid  me.  The  colonists,  how 
ever,  cooperated,  and  everything  went  on  finely.  We  got 
cattle  and  tools,  plcrughed  and  prepared  the  earth,  got  up  a 
school-house  and  a  church. 

Everything  went  on  finely,  and  we  extended  our  domain  over 
to  the  neighboring  port  of  Cenchrsea,  where  we  had  cultivated 
ground  and  a  harbor.  This  was  perhaps  the  happiest  part  of 
my  life.  I  was  alone  among  my  colonists,  who  were  all 
Greeks.  They  knew  I  wanted  to  help  them,  and  they  let  me 
have  my  own  way.  I  had  one  civilized  companion  for  awhile, 
David  Urquhart,  the  eccentric  Englishman,  afterwards  M.  P. 
and  pamphleteer.  I  had  to  journey  much  to  and  from  Corinth, 
Napoli,  etc.,  always  on  horseback,  or  in  boat,  and  often  by 
night.  It  was  a  time  and  place  where  law  was  not ;  and  some 
times  we  had  to  defend  ourselves  against  armed  and  desperate 
stragglers  from  the  bands  of  soldiers  now  breaking  up.  We  had 
many  "  scrimmages,"  and  I  had  several  narrow  escapes  with 
life.  In  one  affair  Urquhart  showed  extraordinary  pluck  and 
courage,  actually  disarming  and  taking  prisoner  two  robbers, 
and  marching  them  before  him  into  the  village.  I  labored  here 


1  The  Stremma  is  4,840  English  square  yards,  above  an  acre. 


80  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

day  and  night,  in  season  and  out,  and  was  governor,  legislator, 
clerk,  constable,  and  everything  but  patriarch;  for,  though  I 
was  young,  I  took  to  no  maiden,  nor  ever  thought  about 
womankind  but  once.  The  Government  (or  rather,  Capo  d'ls- 
tria,  the  President)  treated  the  matter  liberally — for  a  Greek — 
and  did  what  he  could  to  help  me. 

I  found  at  Athens,  in  1870,  the  correspondence 
between  Capo  d'Istria  and  Dr.  Howe  on  this  subject, 
printed  in  the  great  volumes  of  the  unfortunate 
President's  correspondence  which  his  brother  edited 
long  afterwards.  The  colony  was  near  the  present 
railway  station  of  Hexamilia,  on  the  way  from  the 
new  town  of  Corinth  to  Argos.  It  extended  southeast 
from  Hexamilia  towards  Cenchraea,  and  was  nearer  to 
the  Isthmian  sanctuary  than  to  New  Corinth,  which 
was  only  founded  in  1858.  Old  Corinth  lay  on  the 
northwest  side  of  Aero-Corinth,  from  Dr.  Howe's 
village.  Mrs.  Howe  gives  these  particulars  of  his 
visit  there  in  1844  :  "  To  this  spot  his  travels  brought 
him  after  an  interval  of  many  years.  As  he  rode 
through  the  principal  street  of  the  village  the  elder 
people  began  to  take  note  of  him,  and  to  say  one  to 
another:  'This  man  looks  like  Howe.,1  At  length 
they  cried  :  '  It  must  be  Howe  himself  ! '  His  horse 
was  surrounded,  and  his  progress  stayed.  A  feast 
was  immediately  prepared  for  him  in  the  principal 
house  of  the  place,  and  a  throng  of  friends,  old  and 
new,  gathered  around  him,  eager  to  express  their  joy 
in  seeing  him.  This  is  only  one  of  many  scenes 
which  fully  attested  the  grateful  recollection  in  which 
his  services  were  held  by  the  people  of  Greece." 

Concerning  his  campaigns  in  Greece,  Dr.  Howe 
said  in  1857  : 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  8l 

I  liked  the  excitement  immensely ;  the  dangers  gave  zest  to 
it,  and  I  was  as  happy  as  youth,  health,  a  good  cause,  and  toler 
ably  clean  conscience  could  make  me.  Inter  nos — I  think  I 
was  unconscious  of  any  purpose  usually  called  selfish.  I 
wanted  no  money,  and  got  none.  I  did  not  think  about  other 
glory  than  the  approval  of  those  about  me.  These  circum 
stances,  I  think,  together  with  my  familiarity  with  their  lan 
guage,  and  my  sharing  their  hardships,  made  me  a  favorite  with 
the  soldiers,  the  peasantry,  etc. ;  whereas  most  of  the  foreign 
ers  were  not  so.  They  came  usually  for  personal  distinction, 
and  for  honor ;  they  were  brave,  longed  to  expose  themselves, 
and  be  distinguished,  and  were  generally  discontented  and  dis 
appointed  because  there  was  hard  fare,  hard  marches,  and  no 
glory.  Many  and  many  a  poor  fellow  have  I  known — Germans, 
Swiss,  French,  or  English — who  came  with  high  hopes  and 
.ambition,  who  were  only  disappointed.  Many  could  not  bear 
to  wait ;  they  disliked  the  poor  fare,  the  exposure,  the  poverty ; 
but,  above  all,  the  lack  of  glory — gazetting  glory.  Some  were 
killed  ;  some  were  broken  down  and  died  on  marches ;  some 
took  to  raki  (rum  x ) ;  some  deserted,  and  but  very  few  got  off 
alive.  My  desire  was  to  help  along  the  cause.  I  cared  not  for 
what  I  ate,  or  what  I  wore,  or  whether  anybody  knew  me  ;  and 
therefore  the  people  and  soldiers  rather  took  to  me.  I  had 
many  friends  in  humble  life,  God  help  them  !  I  can  say  sincerely 
that  I  found  the  Greeks  kindly  affectioned,  trustful,  grateful, 
and,  as  far  as  my  intercourse  with  them  went,  honest  people. 
They  always  treated  me  as  well  as  I  wished  to  be  treated. 

To  these  remarks  there  were  some  exceptions.  Dr. 
Howe  early  learned  to  dislike  Colocotroni,  the  old 
chieftain,  once  very  prominent  in  the  war  for  inde 
pendence,  and  whose  grandchildren  occupy  honor 
able  positions  in  the  present  kingdom  of  Greece. 
Colocotroni  commanded  in  1821  at  the  taking  of 
Tripolitza,  a  rich  town  held  by  the  Turks,  and  Howe 


More  exactly,  brandy. 


82  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

relates  in  his  history  how  the  chieftain  enriched 
himself  with  the  plunder  of  the  inhabitants.  "  Among 
those  who  came  out  was  a  Jew,  one  of  the  richest 
men  in  the  place,  who  wore  in  his  belt  a  pair  of  rich 
gold-mounted  pistols,  sparkling  with  diamonds. 
These  attracted  the  eye  of  Colocotroni.  '  Ha ! ' 
cried  he,  'a  Jew,  and  armed  !  this  must  not  be;' 
and  seizing  them,  he  stuck  them  into  his  own  belt  as 
a  lawful  prize.  By  treachery  he  gained,  and  by 
treachery  he  lost,  them  ;  I  saw  them  in  1827  glitter 
ing  at  the  waist  of  Grivas,  Commander  of  Napoli. 
Colocotroni  had  tried  to  bribe  one  of  his  soldiers  to 
open  the  gate  of  the  town  in  the  night  to  him  ;  the  sol 
dier  took  the  pistols  in  part  pay  and  presented  them  to 
his  master,  disclosing  to  him  the  plot."  Concerning 
an  experience  of  his  own  with  Colocotroni,  Dr.  Howe 
said  in  1857,  after  relating  how  he  carried  cargoes  of 
gifts  from  America  to  Greece  : 

A  good  part  of  one  of  the  cargoes  was  lost  to  the  people  by 
reason  of  the  ignorance  of  Greek  affairs  by  one  of  the  super 
cargoes.  I  was  not  at  hand  when  he  arrived,  and  one  of  the 
Palikari  chiefs  (Grivas,  if  I  recollect)  represented  himself  as 
the  Government,  and  got  a  great  haul  for  his  soldiers.  Colo 
cotroni  also  tried  to  get  possession  of  five  hundred  barrels  of 
flour  which  I  had  landed  near  Patras,  and  I  had  to  beard  the 
old  savage.  He  threatened  to  shoot  me  ;  but  I  was  too  "  mad  " 
to  be  a  afraid,  and  he  cooled  off.  I  had  despatched  a  messen 
ger  to  the  American  ship  of  war  then  lying  by  chance  at 
Psara,  and  without  knowing  whether  she  would  come,  had  told 
the  old  robber  that  she  would  fire  into  the  town.  Presently 
she  did  come  up,  and  the  captain  sent  to  protect  me  as  an 
American. 

This  was  Captain  Patterson,  on  the  famous  frigate 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  83 

Constitution  ("  Old  Ironsides").  In  his  volume  of 
1828,  Dr.  Howe  mentions  this  incident,  and  says : 
"Colocotroni  stopped  the  distribution  to  the  poor  by 
force,  and  was  preparing  to  divide  the  spoil  with 
Grivas  and  Foutoumaris  (they  had  not  yet  quarreled) 
when  a  spirited  remonstrance  from  Captain  Patter 
son  procured  the  restoration  of  the  provisions  to  the 
agent  of  the  committee  " — who  was  Dr.  Howe. 

This  distribution  of  supplies  took  place  before  the 
colonization  of  Corinth,  which  was  Howe's  latest  ser 
vice  in  the  Greek  revolution  ;  but  he  continued  to 
interest  himself  in  Greek  affairs,  and  was  warm 
against  Capo  d'Istria  in  1831.  He  then  wrote: 

I  am  tired  with  citing  instances  of  the  illiberal  and  tyrrani- 
cal  measures  of  Capo  d'Istria,  or  I  could  go  on  to  show  that  he 
has  in  hundreds  of  instances  violated  public  and  private  rights. 
Supported  by  the  robber  Colocotroni,  and  having  in  his  pay  some 
eight  or  ten  thousand  irregular  troops,  whom  he  pampers  with 
the  subsidies  sent  from  Europe  for  the  improvement  of  the 
people,  his  only  object  seems  to  be  to  rein-in  the  spirit  of  im 
provement  which  is  abroad  among  the  people,  and  to  encour 
age  only  those  feelings  and  those  institutions  which  tend  to 
secure  obedience  to  his  measures.  If  any  one  thing  more  than 
another  has  tended  to  disgust  the  Greeks  with  Capo  d'Istria 
and  his  measures,  it  is  the  introduction  of  a  swarm  of  Corfi- 
otes,  and  other  Sept-insulars,  with  which  he  has  inundated  the 
country  and  filled  every  office.  Corfu  having  been  under  the 
protection  (or  rather  jurisdiction)  of  England,  its  inhabitants 
not  only  took  no  part  in  the  war  of  the  revolution,  but  incurred 
the  hatred  and  ill-will  of  the  patriots  engaged  in  the  struggle, 
by  a  ridiculous  affectation  of  superiority,  aud  by  denying  them 
selves  to  be  Greeks — they  were  English  citizens  forsooth  !  Now 
Capo  d'Istria  being  a  Corfiote,  as  soon  as  the  dangers  of  the 
war  were  passed,  not  only  his  brothers  and  cousins,  to  the 


84  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

nineteenth  generation,  flocked  over  to  enjoy  the  dear-bought 
liberties  of  the  country,  but  hundreds  of  others  followed,  and 
were  immediately  put  into  office.  Men  were  sent  to  govern 
towns  and  provinces  where  they  had  not  only  never  heard  a 
shot  fired,  but  where  they  were  regarded  as  strangers,  if  not 
enemies ;  while  the  Mavrocordatos  and  the  Tricoupis,  the 
Miaulis  and  the  Conduriottis,  who  had  borne  the  heat  and  bur 
den  of  the  war,  were  left  in  obscurity,  or  languished  in  honor 
able  poverty,  the  new  and  unheard-of  name  of  Yanitas  and 
Viarros,  of  Mavroymi,  and  Mavromatis  are  mentioned  in  every 
degree  of  government.  The  elevation  of  Viarro,  the  Presi 
dent's  eldest  brother,  to  the  higher  offices  in  the  State,  is  one  of 
the  most  astonishing  instances  of  his  want  of  prudence  and 
common  political  honesty.  This  man,  taken  from  the  mine  of 
Corfu,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  is  made  at  one  and  the  same  time 
Minister  of  War,  and  civil  Governor  of  a  large  province,  and 
charged  pro  tcm.  with  the  Marine  Department,  and  the  General 
Intendancy  of  the  Police  !  His  brother  Augustin,  a  fool  at  fifty, 
a  gray-headed  dandy,  a  milksop,  a  man  who  had  never  worn 
an  epaulette  even  on  parade,  or  heard  the  thunder  of  a  shotted 
gun,  is  suddenly  placed  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  saluted 
with  the  title  of  Lieutenant-General  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Army  of  Western  Greece !  !  Shades  of  Botzaris  and 
Ulysses,  startle  ye  at  that  sound  ? 

Concerning  the  Greek  character  in  1831-32,  Dr. 
Howe  thus  writes  : 

We  say  the  Greeks  have  received  an  extraordinary  impulse 
which  is  sending  them  rapidly  forward  in  the  race  of  civiliza 
tion,  of  moral  and  political  improvement;  nor  has  this  impulse 
been  given  within  a  few  years;  all  intelligent  travelers  in 
Turkey  within  the  last  century  have  been  struck  with  the 
difference  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Armenians,  the  Jews 
and  other  nations  placed  in  circumstances  exactly  similar  to 
their  own,  under  the  gripe  of  the  Porte.  WThile  the  latter  have 
remained  stationary,  content  to  be  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  85 

drawers  of  water  for  their  haughty  masters,  the  subtle  Greeks, 
improving  every  opportunity  of  gaining  knowledge  and 
enlightenment  from  Europe,  gradually  insinuated  themselves 
into  power  aud  place,  until  the  Divan  or  Constantinople  pre 
sented  the  curious  political  anomaly  of  a  despotic  power  virtu 
ally  wielded  by  slaves  ;  for  who  does  not  know  that  the  Soutzos, 
the  Mavrocordatos  and  the  other  Greek  Dragomans  (interpre 
ters  to  the  Porte),  had  unbounded  influence  in  its  councils  for 
many  years  in  succession  ?  When  we  reflect  on  what  this  truly 
intellectual  people  have  been ;  when  we  consider  that  every 
thing  which  remains  of  them  shows  how  they  were  in  advance 
even  of  our  proud  age  in  many  important  points  ;  when  we  see 
our  sculptors  and  our  architects,  our  poets  and  our  orators, 
making  their  mightiest  efforts,  exerting  the  boldest  stretches 
of  their  genius  merely  to  imitate  the  mutilated  and  imperfect 
fragments  of  Grecian  works  which  have  come  down  to  us  over 
a  waste  of  two  thousand  years ;  when  we  see,  I  say,  that  their 
descendants  possess  the  same  happy  physical  organization, 
inhabit  the  same  delicious  and  salubrious  clime,  and  are  mani 
festing  some  glimmering  of  rekindling  spirit,  we  cannot  but 
indulge  the  hope  that  something  great  may  yet  be  expected 
from  them. 

The  hope  of  Greece  is  in  her  rising  generation ;  in  those 
young  and  elastic  spirits  whose  energies,  and  whose  manly  feel 
ings  have  never  been  crushed  by  the  weight  of  Turkish  despot 
ism.  But  if  this  rising  generation  is  educated  into  submission 
to,  and  reverence  for,  a  government  which  violates  every  right 
of  the  citizen,  and  mocks  at  the  palladium  of  the  Constitution, 
how  can  they  acquire  the  stern  feeling  of  independence  which 
animates  the  freeman  to  a  disregard  of  every  personal  interest 
in  the  acquisition  of  true  civil  liberty  ?  It  were  better  that  the 
fear  of  the  bowstring  and  the  scimitar  should  have  kept  the 
fathers  a  few  years  longer  in  order,  than  that  the  sons  should 
serve  such  a  political  apprenticeship  as  makes  them  the  willing 
tools  of  a  despot.  The  Greek  revolution  was  the  birthday  of 
the  Greek  nation,  which  had  been,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
politically  dead.  It  is  of  immense  importance  that  the  political 


86  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

education  of  the  people  should  be  a  good  one ;  it  is  of  conse 
quence  not  only  to  their  improvement  and  civilization,  but  to 
the  future  peace  and  tranquility  of  the  country. 

In  one  of  his  journeys  from  Corinth  to  Napoli,  in 
1829-30,  Howe  delayed  by  night  on  the  marshy 
plain  of  Argos,  and  took  the  fever  of  the  swamp, 
which  assumed  a  very  severe  type,  and  he  came  near 
dying.  Finally  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  country 
in  the  spring  of  1830,  but  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  Greece  was  free.  He  went  through 
Italy,  and  tarried  awhile  in  Switzerland  to  get 
thoroughly  free  from  his  fever  in  the  mountain  air. 
In  July,  1830,  he  was  in  Paris,  and  saw  all  the  July 
Revolution  of  the  "  three  days"  "I  had  before  seen 
something  of  Lafayette,"  he  wrote,  "  and  when  he 
finally  resolved  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
revolt,  I  made  one  of  the  small  band  who  escorted 
him  from  his  home  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  I  knew  it 
was  none  of  my  business,  but  I  could  not  help  joining 
in  and  cheering  on  the  revolution.  Afterwards  I 
went  to  Brussels  and  saw  part  of  the  scrimmage  there." 
This  resulted,  soon  after,  in  the  independence  of 
Belgium.  He  next  attended  lectures  in  Paris  during 
the  winter  of  1830-31,  seeing  much  of  Lafayette,  and  of 
Cooper,  the  novelist,  who  then  lived  in  Paris.  In  1831 
he  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  cast  about  what 
to  du,  for  he  did  not  like  to  enter  on  the  practice  of 
his  doctor's  profession.  "  I  had  then  a  good  deal  of 
nonsense  about  me,  and  I  did  not  like  the  notion  of 
charging  money  for  medical  services."  He  had  some 
negotiation  about  taking  charge  of  the  negro  colony 
of  Liberia,  but  happily  it  failed.  In  the  meantime  he 
wrote  much  about  Greece  and  the  Orient,  and  became 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  87 

interested  through  his  friend,  Dr.  Fisher,  in  the  pro 
ject  for  teaching  the  blind  in  Boston.  "  In  a  few 
days  I  made  an  arrangement  to  take  charge  of  the 
enterprise,  then  only  in  embryo,  and  started  at  once 
for  Europe,  to  get  the  necessary  information,  engage 
teachers,  etc.,  and  I  visited  the  schools  in  France  and 
England."  He  was  also  visiting  Germany  on  the 
same  errand,  when  more  important  things  detained 
him,  as  we  shall  now  see. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IMPRISONMENT    IN    BERLIN. 

IN  the  winter  of  1831-32,  being  in  Paris  with  Lafay 
ette,  Cooper,  the  American  novelist,  and  other 
friends  of  the  defeated  Poles,  whose  insurrection 
against  the  Czar  Nicholas  had  been  suppressed  in  the 
autumn  previous,  Dr.  Howe  was  made  chairman  of 
an  "  American-Polish  Committee,"  and,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  Lafayette,  who  gave  him  a  letter  of  instruc 
tions,  he  undertook  to  visit  Prussian  Poland,  and 
carry  money  for  clothing  and  food  to  the  Polish 
refugees  along  the  Vistula  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Elbing.  It  was  a  delicate  mission,  and  risky,  but 
Dr.  Howe  performed  it,  and  did  carry  the  funds  and 
distribute  them,  much  to  the  relief  of  the  patriots 
and  the  annoyance  of  the  Prussian  Government,  by 
whose  orders  he  was  secretly  arrested  and  imprisoned 
upon  his  return  to  Berlin.  There  he  lay  in  a  cell 
alone,  in  secret,  some  six  weeks,  and  suffered  not  a 
little.  He  says  in  the  autobiograhy,  "I  did  contrive 
to  make  friends  with  the  turnkey,  and  got  some 
letters  out,  before  I  was  finally  liberated  and  pitched 
over  the  French  frontier  by  night."  These  letters 
have  been  preserved,  and  will  presently  be  given.  I 
have  heard  Dr.  Howe  relate  this  adventure — never 

(88) 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  89 

unless  he  was  urged  to  do  so — but  then  with  interest 
and  amusement.  Ordinarily  he  took  the  same  view 
of  his  exploits  and  perils  that  Trelawny  expresses 
concerning  his  own  adventures  in  Greece.  "  Our 
ambuscades,  onslaughts,  rock-fighting,  forays,"  says 
Trelawny,1  "  stalking  Turkish  cavalry,  intermingled 
with  conferences,  treaties,  squabbles,  intrigue  and 
constant  change,  were  exciting  at  the  time  ;  so  was 
the  Caffre  war  to  those  engaged  in  it  ;  but  as  they 
are  neither  edifying  nor  amusing  to  write,  nor  to  read 
about,  I  shall  not  record  them."  Howe,  writing  to 
Horace  Mann  in  1857,  before  Trelawny's  book 
was  published,  said  :  "  I,  of  course,  led  an  adven 
turous  life,  and  had  some  hair-breadth  escapes — but 
they  are  not  worth  recalling.  I  have  never  thought 
them  of  any  importance,  and  avoided  talking  about 
them,  even  to  intimate  friends."  This  time,  however, 
he  made  an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  related  to  his 
colleagues  of  the  Board  of  State  Charities,  in  1872, 
how  he  had  fared  at  the  hands  of  the  Prussian  sol 
diers  and  police  forty  years  before.  He  said  that,  when 
ordered  to  leave  the  Polish  frontier,  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  journeyed  southwest  towards  Berlin,  with 
out  concern.  But  in  course  of  the  first  day  he  noticed 
a  horseman  or  two  following  him,  not  overtaking 
or  seemingly  wishing  to  overtake  him  ;  but  only  to 
keep  him  in  sight  across  those  vast  plains  of  Prussian 
Poland.  He  entered  Berlin  and  went  to  his  hotel, 
conscious  that  he  might  be  visited  by  the  police;  and 
so  he  was,  the  same  evening.  He  had  taken  Lafay 
ette's  letter  and  some  other  compromising  papers,  and 


1  Record,  Vol.  II,  p.  124  (London,  1878). 


90  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

put  them  up  the  hollow  head  of  a  bust  of  the  King  of 
Prussia,  which  surmounted  his  great  stove  ;  then  he 
tore  up  a  few  unimportant  papers  and  threw  them 
into  the  stove,  and  into  the  wash-basin ;  this  being 
done,  he  admitted  the  police  officers,  who  gathered 
up  the  pieces  in  sight,  but  did  not  search  for  treason 
in  the  head  of  the  old  king.  They  took  him  to 
prison  the  last  day  of  February,  1832,  and  when  he 
was  released,  in  April,  he  never  went  back  to  his  room 
at  the  hotel,  but  a  friend  afterwards  found  his  papers 
safe  there,  and  carried  them  to  him  in  France.  He 
was  released  at  the  demand  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Rives,  of 
Virginia,  who  was  then  American  Minister  at  Paris, 
and  who  became  aware  of  his  secret  imprisonment  by 
a  fortunate  accident.  Dr.  Howe,  on  the  day  of  his 
arrival  in  Berlin,  had  met  a  friend  from  America, 
Albert  Brisbane,  the  well-known  disciple  of  Fourier, 
who,  calling  the  next  day  at  the  hotel  named  on  Dr. 
Howe's  card,  could  find  no  trace  of  him.  It  was 
denied  that  any  American  had  been  there,  but  Mr. 
Brisbane,  learning  the  visit  of  the  police  the  night 
before,  became  suspicious,  and  wrote  at  once  to  Mr. 
Rives.  The  case  was  investigated,  and  a  requisition 
made  upon  the  Prussian  Government  for  the  person 
of  an  American  citizen,  unjustly  detained.  "  After 
repeated  denials  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  creditable 
persistence  on  the  other,"  says  Mrs.  Howe,  the  point 
was  yielded,  and  Dr.  Howe  regained  his  liberty,  but 
not  until  he  had  made  a  journey  of  six  hundred  miles 
in  a  carriage  with  two  gendarmes,  who  released  him 
just  outside  the  Prussian  frontier,  with  an  admoni 
tion  never  to  cross  it  again.  The  rest  of  the  story 
may  be  given  in  Howe's  own  words  : 


YOUTHFUL  DARING.  91 

TWO  LETTERS  TO  DR.  JOHN  D.  FISHER. 

BERLIN  PRISON,         ) 
March  20,  1832.  \ 

I  have  oft  dated  my  letters  to  you  from  queer,  out-of-the- 
way  places ;  from  city  and  from  camp,  from  mountain,  from 
cottage,  and,  I  believe,  from  caverns ;  but  never  did  it  enter 
into  my  imagination  that  I  should  write  you  from  the  cell  of  a 
prison ;  and  that,  too,  by  stealth,  on  a  bit  of  brown  paper  (in 
which  my  candle  had  been  wrapped),  with  a  stub  of  a  pencil 
coaxed  from  a  turnkey,  and  by  the  glimmer  of  light  that  comes 
from  a  close-grated  window.  Yet  so  it  is  ;  here  I  am,  as  sure 
and  fast  as  bars  and  bolts  and  stone  walls  can  keep  me.  Here 
I  have  been  for  the  last  twenty  days,  and  here  may  I  be  for  the 
next  twenty  months,  for  aught  I  know.  But  that  I  am  in  prison 
is  not  all ;  that  my  cell  is  but  eight  feet  wide,  is  not  the  worst 
of  it ;  my  imprisonment  is  of  a  kind  which  to  us  poor  ignorant 
mortals  in  America  is  unknown.  It  is  called  the  (au  secret} 
secret ;  that  is,  no  one  can  write  to  me,  or  send  me  a  word  of 
consolation ;  nor  can  I  communicate  my  situation  to  a  single 
friend  ;  even  a  newspaper  is  prohibited,  lest  perchance  I  should 
see  that  some  one  had  got  notice  of  my  being  in  prison. 

Good  Heaven!  you  will  say,  has  the  fellow  plotted  high 
treason,  or  shot  one  of  the  King's  deer,  or  refused  to  give  the 
wall  to  a  prince  of  the  blood  ?  Neither,  my  dear  sir ;  nor  any 
other  human  law  have  I  broken,  that  I  know  of;  but,  though 
I  have  again  and  again  vainly  called  for  a  copy  of  the  accusa 
tions  against  me ;  though  I  have  demanded  to  know  my 
offence,  and  to  be  confronted  with  my  accusers ;  though  I  have 
appealed  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  to  judgment ;  and  though 
to  all  these  my  demands,  I  have  not  been  able  to  get  the  least 
answer,  still  I  cannot  pretend  ignorance  of  my  offence.  It  is 
rank !  It  smells  to  Heaven !  I  have  administered  some  suc 
cor  and  consolation  to  that  gallant  remnant  of  the  Polish  army, 
which  took  refuge  in  Prussia.  I  have  endeavored  to  distribute 
to  the  poor,  half-naked  soldiers,  the  generous  contributions  of 
the  American  public  ;  and  the  tangible  proof  which  they  received 


Q2  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

of  its  sympathy  at  a  moment  when  they  thought  themselves 
abandoned  by  all  the  world  so  encouraged  them,  and  enraged 
the  Prussian  authorities,  that  the  latter  have  rewarded  me  with 
this  lodging  gratis.  I  am,  aux  frais  de  VEtat,  the  nation's 
guest ;  that  is  the  only  explanation  I  can  give  of  it. 

But  I  forgot  that  you  are  probably  unacquainted  with  that 
which  has  been  continually  in  my  mind  for  the  two  months 
past,  viz.,  the  singularly  interesting,  I  may  say  heroic,  situation 
of  this  last  relic  of  the  gallant  army  of  Poland.  At  the  end  of 
their  bloody  struggle,  being  determined  never  to  yield  to,  or 
live  under,  the  Russians,  they  entered  the  Prussian  territories, 
and  laid  down  their  arms,  on  the  condition  of  being  left  at  full 
liberty  to  direct  their  steps  .whither  they  would.  For  the  last 
two  months,  however,  every  possible  measure  has  been  taken 
to  induce  them  to  reenter  Poland.  But  it  being  found  that 
argument,  entreaties,  and  threats,  were  alike  useless,  as  long  as 
the  officers  remained  with  their  men,  these  were  separated  from 
them — those  officers  being  dragged  away  by  force  who  hesi 
tated  to  obey ;  and  a  few  only  succeded  in  remaining,  by  dis 
guising  themselves  as  common  soldiers.  It  was  a  sad  day — 
that  of  parting ;  it  seemed  like  separating  a  band  of  brothers ; 
and  many  an  officer,  feigning,  or  really  making  himself  sick, 
remained  weeks  afterwards  near  his  men,  receiving  news 
from  them  only  by  night.  The  officers  were  sent  off  to  France, 
whither  they  all  demanded  to  go ;  and  you  might  have  seen 
these  gallant  fellows,  without  their  swords,  their  once  splendid 
uniforms  soiled  and  torn,  seated  by  dozens,  on  bundles  of  straw 
in  the  carts  of  the  peasantry,  and  transported  along  the  high 
roads  in  midwinter,  leaving  behind  them  country  and  home, 
and  all  they  held  dear,  going  they  hardly  knew  whither.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  day,  when  at  Dirrone,  a  little  village  near 
the  Vistula,3  I  met  with  three  cartloads  of  these  heroes,  all 
young  and  splendid-looking  fellows.  Our  stage-coach  had 


1  In  the  autumn  of  1831. 

*  Between  Dantzic  and  Elbing. 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  93 

stopped  at  the  tavern,  and  a  dozen  people  were  standing  at  the 
door;  as  the  carts  passed,  the  Germans  gazed  with  their  round 
unmeaning  eyes ;  but  not  a  voice  was  heard,  not  a  hand  was 
raised,  not  a  hat  was  waved  in  the  air.  There  was  no  sympathy 
in  their  souls,  or  if  there  was,  they  dared  not  express  it ;  for  the 
Argus  eyes  of  the  police  were  there.  I  forgot  the  police  and 
everything  else  but  the  feelings  natural  to  man ;  and  impru 
dently  yielding  to  that  impulse,  I  waved  my  hat  in  the  air,  and 
shouted,  "Honneur!  Honneur  aux  braves!"  The  Poles 
looked  up,  surprised  at  the  sound,  and  pointed  me  out  to  each 
other  ;  as  they  raised  their  caps  to  return  my  salute,  they  cried, 
"  Vive  la  France  !  "  Poor  fellows,  they  took  me  for  a  Frenchman  ; 
they  had,  as  yet,  found  so  little  sympathy,  that  they  seemed 
astonished  at  this  instance  of  it;  and,  as  they  waved  their  caps, 
long  after  passing  me,  and  endeavored  to  express  their  thanks 
in  their  looks,  it  so  affected  me,  that  I  turned  away  to  hide  a 
womanish  weakness ;  and  left  the  Germans  to  stare  and  wonder 
what  the  de'il  could  have  moved  me. 

You  know  (or  you  do  not  know)  that  while  in  Paris  I  had 
taken  much  interest  in  the  fate  of  the  refugees  ;  and  when  I  was 
about  to  leave  for  Germany,  it  was  proposed  to  me  by  General 
Lafayette,  and  the  American  committee,  that  I  should  take 
charge  of  part  of  the  contributions,  and  aid  with  them  such  of 
the  Poles  as  I  should  fall  in  with,  and  who  should  be  suffering ; 
and  this  I  most  gladly  undertook.  On  my  route  hither  I  met  many 
who  seemed  badly  in  need,  but  most  of  them  would  not  own  it ; 
they  wanted,  they  said,  to  get  to  France  ;  and  some  to  whom  I 
sent  assistance  returned  me  the  half,  as  being  more  than  they 
needed ;  but  all  begged  me  to  go  to  their  soldiers,  from  whom 
they  had  been  separated  as  by  force.  "  There,"  said  they,  "  you 
may  do  good — you  may  save  them  from  entering  Poland,  from 
worse  than  death  ;  they  are  abandoned  by  all  whom  they  can  call 
friends,  and  your  presence  will  cheer  and  encourage  them  ;  for 
you  have  with  you  the  tangible  proof  of  the  sympathy  of  your 
generous  countrymen.  Go  and  see  with  your  own  eyes,  the 
most  devoted  and  generous  soldiery  in  the  world."  "  Alas  !  "  said 
several,  "  our  poor  ignorant  soldiers  are  better  than  we — better 


94  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

than  our  leaders ;  they  felt  only  love  for  Poland,  and  hatred  to 
Russia ;  we  had  other  passions.  But  go — go  and  see  the  poor 
fellows  ;  many  will  be  in  want  of  clothing  before  now." 

Could  I  hesitate  ?  When  I  had  finished  my  affairs  in  Ber 
lin,  I  started  off  to  see  with  my  own  eyes  the  situation  of  the 
soldiers,  hoping  there  at  once  to  find  proper  objects  on  whom 
to  bestow  all  the  charities  of  which  I  was  the  bearer.  I  found 
them  indeed  suffering,  morally  and  physically;  that  is,  depressed 
in  spirits,  and  anxious  about  the  future,  and  but  miserably  clad, 
very  many  being  entirely  shirtless.  To  my  surprise,  too,  I 
found  I  could  not  give  them  anything  without  demanding  per 
mission  of  the  Prussian  commander ;  this  I  did,  nor  could  he 
refuse  me,  though  he  granted  a  growling,  unwilling  assent.  I 
immediately  set  about  making  a  contract  for  shirts,  etc. ;  but 
before  they  were  finished,  I  received  an  order  to  quit  the 
neighborhood  of  the  army  instantly ;  an  order  accompanied  by 
a  force  to  put  it  in  execution.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  pleaded  the 
protection  which  my  passport  gave  me — that  I  urged  the  per 
mission  given  me  by  the  commander,  Schmidt ;  he,  himself,  had 
given  the  counter-order,  and  forbade  me  distributing  anything 
to  the  Poles,  or  seeing  them,  even  in  the  presence  of  a  Prussian 
officer.  "  You  have  had  time,"  said  he,  "  to  make  your  contract ; 
let  your  distribution  be  made  by  Prussian  agents."  I  wished  to 
give  the  things  myself — to  tell  the  poor  fellows  whence  they 
came,  and  comfort  them  with  the  assurance  of  the  sympathy 
felt  for  them  in  America.  But  the  aid-de-camp  hurried  me  off 
nolens  volens. 

I  came  then  to  Berlin  to  attend  to  my  affairs,  little  thinking 
I  was  running  my  head  into  a  trap ;  for,  though  in  the  order 
which  I  received  from  Schmidt  to  quit  the  army,  he  told  me 
that  I  was  suspected  of  being  an  emissary,  I  was  so  confident 
in  my  own  innocence,  that  I  despised  the  thought  of  skulking  out 
of  Prussia  as  I  might  have  done,  and  slipped  into  Saxony. 
What  was  my  astonishment,  then,  on  arriving  here,  to  find 
myself  arrested,  stripped  of  everything,  lugged  to  prison,  and 
locked  up  in  a  cell,  without  being  able  to  get  one  word  of 
explanation.  The  next  day  came  the  long-faced,  solemn  scribe, 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  95 

to  question  me  on  the  events  of  my  life,  beginning  with  my 
sorry  birth;  writing  down  my  answers  without  ever  lifting  his 
little  eyes  from  his  paper,  and  going  off  with  my  whole  biog 
raphy  under  his  arm,  without  ever  thanking  me  for  the  informa 
tion.  Then  came  cross-questionings,  and  pumpings  of  various 
kinds,  but  no  communications  to  me  from  without ;  no  assur 
ance  that  my  friends  knew  what  had  become  of  me.  All  this, 
you  may  imagine,  did  put  up  my  Yankee  blood ;  and  perhaps 
my  answers  were  not  always  obsequious  enough  for  the  atmos 
phere  ;  nevertheless,  they  were  true  ones.  For  the  last  ten 
days,  however,  I  have  been  left  alone ;  and,  though  I  cannot 
find  out  of  what  I  am  accused,  I  am  not  tormented  by  ques 
tions. 

Do  what  you  choose  with  the  general  information  I  have 
given  you,  but  do  not  publish  this  letter  with  my  name,  which 
has  been  thrust  too  much  on  the  public.  But  if,  however,  by  the 
next  packet  you  should  not  hear  of  my  release,  then,  for  God's 
sake,  do  what  you  can  for  me.  I  appear  to  make  light  of  it, 
and  show  a  bold  front,  but  I  assure  you  it  is  no  trifle ;  we  have 
no  ambassadors  here ;  I  am  in  the  hands  of  arbitrary  men ;  I 
have  served  a  cause  which  they  detest ;  and  my  heart  sinks  at 
the  thought  of  my  strength  wasting  away  in  this  miserable  cell, 
and  my  health  gradually  giving  way  under  the  influence  of  the 
foul,  unwholesome  air  I  breathe.  Others  have  suffered  years 
for  but  light  words  spoken ;  and  it  may  be  that  I  have  given 
mortal  offence  by  cheering  and  encouraging  those  whom  it 
seems  to  have  been  their  object  to  reduce  by  utter  despair. 

March  24,  1832. 

MY  DEAR  FISHER — I  should  be  perfectly  miserable  could  I 
suppose  that  you  should  not  have  received  the  letter  which  I 
wrote  you  from  Berlin  previous  to  my  leaving  it,  on  the  busi 
ness  it  was  my  duty  to  be  about,  for  what  I  supposed  would  be 
a  six  or  ten  days'  affair,  but  which  has,  to  my  surprise,  as  well 
as  my  grief  and  indignation,  led  to  my  imprisonment.  I  say,  I 
should  be  miserable,  for  in  that  case  it  might  be  supposed  that 


96  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

I  had  engaged  in  some  political  intrigue ;  that  I  had  neglected 
the  duties  of  my  mission,  and  got  into  prison  through  my  own 
fault.  I  trust,  however,  that  you  did  get  that  letter,  which  will 
explain  how,  acting  upon  the  spirit  of  my  engagement,  I  con 
sidered  myself  at  liberty  to  make  "  some  little  digression  from 
my  route,  at  my  own  expense."  And  in  leaving  Berlin  for 
Elbing,1  I  thought  of  doing  a  deed  only  of  charity  and  of 
humanity  ;  which  might,  indeed,  get  me  the  ill-will  of  a  govern 
ment  like  that  of  Russia  or  Austria,  but  not  of  one  so  civilized 
and  Christian  as  Prussia.  I  was  free  from  all  political  connec 
tion,  or  design  ;  and  yet  (do  you  believe  it  ?)  I  cannot  persuade 
them  here  that  even  my  voyage  to  Europe  had  not  a  political 
object  in  view.  They  think  that  my  examining  the  institutions 
for  the  blind  in  Germany  was  but  a  pretext  to  cover  another 
intention ;  and  acting  up  to  this,  and  in  the  absence  of  any 
representative  of  our  government  here,  they  have  dared 
imprison  me,  put  me  an  secret,  and  have  kept  me  here  three 
weeks  without  even  telling  me  of  what  I  am  suspected ! 

This  will  sound  strange  in  your  ears,  that  in  a  country  like 
Prussia,  where  laws  and  judges  exist,  a  stranger  should  thus  be 
shut  up  in  the  cell  of  a  common  prison  ;  that  he  should  not  be 
permitted  to  see  a  soul,  nor  receive  a  line  from  a  friend,  nor  an 
assurance  that  his  friends  know  what  has  become  of  him.  It 
is  only  within  a  day  or  two  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  write, 
and  as  my  letters  must  pass  under  the  eyes  of  those  who  have 
thus  cruelly  trampled  on  my  rights,  and  the  laws  of  justice,  I 
must  speak  of  my  treatment  in  such  qualified  terms  as  my 
indignation  will  permit  me,  lest  they  should  not  permit  my  Jet- 
ters  to  pass.  I'll  be  cool,  then,  and  let  you  know  where  and 
how  I  am — snug  enough,  between  four  granite  walls,  in  a  wee 
bit  cell,  fast  barred  and  bolted,  and  writing  b}  the  light  which 
comes  in  from  a  little  grated  window,  or  air  hole,  eight  feet 
from  the  floor.  I  am  kept  in  perfect  seclusion ;  not  a  news 
paper  is  allowed,  to  tell  me  how  the  world  wags  without ;  and 


1  A  town  then  of  20,000  people,  thirty-five  miles  southeast  of 
Dantzic,  and  near  the  Polish  frontier. 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  97 

not  a  sound  disturbs  my  meditations,  save  the  clang  of  the  sen 
tinel's  heel,  as  he  paces  up  and  down  the  corridor. 
"  'Tis  a  weary  life  this, 
Arches  above,  and  bolts  and  bars  around  me  ; " 

But  I  keep  a  good  heart,  and  recollect  when  I  was  shut  up  in 
a  little  castle  in  Candia,1  with  no  food  but  biscuit,  and  the  Mos 
lem  dogs  whetting  their  sabres  to  dissect  us  when  we  should 
have  eaten  all  our  bread,  and  been  forced  to  come  out.  Even 
as  I  escaped  then,  shall  I  be  again  delivered  from  the  Philis 
tines  who  persecute  me.  As  for  food,  I  do  not  complain  in 
that  respect ;  plain  food  is  no  hardship  for  me,  but  though  I 
had  Very's  or  Beauvillier's  bill  of  fare  to  choose  from,  still 
wonld  I  say, 

"  Give  me  a  morsel  on  the  green  sward  rather, 
Coarse  as  you  will  the  cooking;  let  the  fresh  spring 
Bubble  beside  my  napkin,  and  the  free  birds 
Twittering  and  chirping,  hop  from  bough  to  bough 
To  claim  the  crumbs  I  leave  for  perquisites  : 
Your  prison  feasts  I  like  not." 

It  is  not  this  which  torments  me — it  is  the  delay,  it  is  the  loss 
of  time,  it  is  the  distracting  thought  that  it  may  be  supposed  at 
home  that  I  have  neglected  my  duty.  Let  no  conclusion  be 
drawn  till  I  am  heard  in  my  defence.  Were  I  free  from  any 
engagement,  I  would  hold  this  imprisonment  as  a  mere  trifle. 
I  would  laugh  at  men  who  can  thus  punish  me  for  doing  what 
they  must  approve  if  they  have  a  spark  of  humanity. 

I  went  to  carry  comfort  and  consolation  to  the  gallant  relic 
of  that  army  of  heroes  who  fought  so  long  and  so  gloriously  in 
the  purest  cause  man  can  draw  sword  for ;  they  were  aban 
doned  by  all  the  world,  as  they  thought ;  they  were  suffering 
physically  and  morally ;  they  were  standing  on  the  frontiers  of 
Prussia,  near  to  their  own  lost  land,  yet  resisting  every  effort  to 
induce  them  to  enter  it.  I  went  in  the  name  of  thousands  of  my 
fellow-citizens  to  clothe  those  who  were  naked,  and  to  say  to  all 


1  The  fortress  of  Grabousa  in  1826,  mentioned  on  page  78. 


98  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

that  they  had  the  sympathies  and  the  hearty  good  wishes  of 
America.  I  did  this  openly  at  midday,  and  for  a  reward  I  have 
the  solitary  cell  of  a  common  prison.  I  am  put  into  the  abode 
of  murderous  thieves  and  outlaws  ;  yet,  from  the  bottom  of  my 
cell,  I  can  put  my  hand  on  my  heart,  and  say  sincerely,  I  would 
not  change  situations  with  those  who  have  thought  it  their 
duty  to  put  me  here.  How  long  my  imprisonment  may  last  I 
know  not,  nor  should  the  thought  of  that  annoy  me,  were  it  not 
for  my  engagement  in  America — that  is  the  thorn  in  my  side. 
However,  let  me  make  the  best  of  it ;  I  could  not  have  got  home 
before  the  rising  of  Congress,  we  could  not  have  done  much 
without  assistance  from  the  different  Legislatures,  and  the 
Trustees  will  be  relieved  from  all  expenses  during  the  time  I 
am  not  employed  about  their  business.  Besides,  it  may  be  that 
the  Trustees  granted  the  request  which  I  addressed  them  from 
Paris,  to  have  permission  to  quit  their  business  long  enough  to 
visit  the  Colony  which  I  established  in  Greece.  The  Colony, 
God  bless  it!  am  I  not  a  happy  fellow  (dear  Fisher),  hardly 
thirty,  and  a  bachelor,  to  have  two  hundred  children — for  all 
the  Colonists  call  me  patera — which  in  the  vernacular  means 
"  Father." 

I  say,  in  case  the  Trustees  granted  that  request  (though  I 
always  acted  on  the  supposition  that  they  would  not),  I  shall  be 
a  happy  fellow.  I  would  cheerily  support  my  misfortune,  since 
they  imagine  the  poor  services  I  have  rendered  the  unfortunate 
Poles  are  important  enough  to  merit  a  long  imprisonment.  I 
will  try  to  civilize  the  spiders  in  my  cell,  or  find  out  whether 
there  are  any  blind  among  the  bed-bugs  ;  or,  perchance  I  can 
tame  the  mouse  that  nibbles  my  slipper.  Poor  fellow  !  he  must 
fare  hard  here,  to  come  to  that ;  I  have,  in  my  day,  eaten  jack 
ass  meat,  but  never  tried  the  hide  ;  nevertheless,  with  the  aid 
of  Papin's  Digester.  But  a  truce  with  joking,  I  am  rambling 
from  home  to  Greece,  from  Greece  to  Poland,  and  even  into 
a  Digester;  you'll  think  me  mad  and  not  sad.  But  I  have 
need  to  keep  my  spirits  rattling  about  everything  but  the  dark 
side  of  the  prospect  before  me ;  which  (I  fear  not  to  contem 
plate  it,  however)  is  that  of  long  confinement,  of  hope 


YOUTHFUL   DARING.  99 

deferred,  of  strength  gradually  wasting  away  from  inaction 
of  health  yielding  to  the  attacks  of  anxiety  and  the  influence  of 
the  foul,  unwholesome  air  I  breathe.  But  no  !  before  that,  my 
country  will  make  her  voice  heard ;  I  trust  she  will  not  let  the 
humblest  of  her  citizens  long  suffer  as  unjustly  and  undeserv 
edly  as  I  do. 

I  say  I  can  look  on  the  very  worst  side  of  the  picture,  without 
flinching,  or  feeling  inclined  to  crouch  and  cringe,  and  beg  for 
giveness.  No !  I  am  proud  of  what  I  have  done,  I  shall  ever 
be  so.  Let  not  then  my  friends  have  any  anxiety  about  my  per 
sonal  safety.  I  trust  ere  long  to  assure  them  and  you  of  that  in 
person,  as  also  how  truly  I  remain  your  friend, 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE. 

P.  S.  I  have  got  hold  of  some  German  works  on  the  educa 
tion  of  the  blind.  I  did  not  know  of  their  existence  in  France. 
I  hope,  if  pen  and  paper  are  granted  me  here,  to  translate  some 
good  things.  If  by  the  next  packet  you  hear  not  of  my  libera 
tion,  then  do  all  that  can  be  done  for  me.  I  trust  our  govern 
ment  will  know  how  to  redress  the  wrongs  done  its  citizens. 

Dr.  Howe's  fellow-countrymen  in  Paris,  who  had 
served  with  him  on  the  American  Polish  Committee, 
felt  bound,  upon  his  return  to  France  from  his  Prus 
sian  dungeon,  to  explain  to  the  world  how  and  why 
he  had  acted  as  he  did.  Accordingly  Mr.  Cooper  and 
Prof.  Morse  prepared,  and  the  other  members  of  the 
committee  signed  with  them,  the  following  paper: 

STATEMENT    OF    THE    AMERICAN    COMMITTEE    IN    PARIS. 

The  moment  of  terminating  its  trust  having  arrived,  the 
American  Polish  Committee  believes  itself  bound  to  render  an 
account  of  its  organization  and  proceedings  to  that  portion  of 
their  fellow- citizens  whose  liberality  was  the  cause  of  its  exist 
ence. 


100  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

The  manner  in  which  the  contributions  for  the  succor  of  the 
Poles  was  made  is  generally  known.  The  money  was  remitted 
to  General  Lafayette,  with  the  request  that  he  would  see  it 
handed  over  to  the  Polish  treasury,  in  the  event  of  its  being 
received  in  time  to  be  of  aid  in  the  struggle ;  with  an  under 
standing  that  it  was  to  be  applied  to  the  relief  of  the  sufferers, 
should  it  be  too  late  for  the  principal  object.  The  first  remit 
tance  having  arrived  in  France  after  the  fall  of  Warsaw,  the 
money  was  necessarily  devoted  to  its  second  destination.  Had 
it  reached  him  earlier,  the  task  of  General  Lafayette  would 
have  been  limited  to  paying  it  over  and  receiving  in  return 
vouchers  which  he  would  have  been  able  to  show  to  all  inter 
ested.  Bnt,  under  the  circumstances,  he  found  himself  pos 
sessed  of  considerable  sums,  without  any  direct  responsibility, 
and,  we  may  add,  charged  with  duties  of  a  laborious  and  deli 
cate  character,  which  his  other  employments  would  scarcely 
permit  him  to  perform  with  sufficient  fidelity.  With  his  usual 
tact  and  judgment,  he  decided  to  appeal  to  the  Americans  at 
Paris  for  assistance. 

The  American  Polish  Committee  was  formed  in  obedience  to 
the  written  requisition  of  General  Lafayette.  The  Committee 
assumed  the  office  of  keeping  the  accounts,  of  investigating  the 
merits  of  applicants  for  relief,  of  deciding  on  their  reception, 
and  of  doing  all  things  properly  connected  with  the  faithful  dis 
charge  of  a  trust  so  sacred.  As  the  members  of  the  Com 
mittee  felt,  however,  that  they  were  unauthorized  to  act  by 
those  who  had  furnished  the  contributions,  the  resolutions  of 
organization  were  so  framed  as  to  contain  a  clause  which  ren 
dered  it  necessary  to  the  validity  of  their  acts  to  refer  all  their 
decisions  to  General  Layfayette.  Although  the  accounts  were 
kept  by  the  Committee  through  their  Secretary,  the  money 
was  deposited  to  the  credit  of  General  Lafayette,  and  was  only 
drawn  for  use  by  his  drafts.  The  Committee  deems  these  ex 
planations  necessary  to  i!s  own  vindication  in  assuming  pow 
ers  with  which  it  was  not  more  regularly  invested. 

Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe,  of  Massachusetts,  having  been  espe 
cially  named  in  communications  from  America  as  commis- 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  IOI 

sioner  to  act  in  behalf  of  some  of  the  contributors,  and  having 
been  particularly  designated'in  the  requisitions  of  General  Lafay 
ette  as  one  whom  he  would  wish  to  see  on  the  Committee,  was 
appointed  its  Chairman.  This  choice  was  made,  in  addition  to 
the  considerations  connected  with  the  personal  claims  of  the 
candidate,  in  deference  to  the  wish  of  General  Lafayette,  and 
as  furnishing  the  nearest  approach  that  the  case  allowed,  to 
what  might  be  esteemed  the  selection  of  a  respectable  portion 
of  the  contributors  at  home.  Several  weeks  elapsed  after 
the  regular  organization  ot  the  Committee  without  an  appli 
cation  for  relief.  This  unexpected  forbearance  on  the  part  of 
the  emigrants  is  to  be  ascribed  to  several  causes.  Few  reached 
Paris,  with  the  exception  of  those  who  were  in  possession  of 
more  or  less  means.  The  sympathies  of  the  French  were  pow 
erfully  awakened,  and  the  disposal  of  their  succor,  which  was 
of  magnificent  amount,  admitted  of  a  more  regular  and  con 
tinued  system  than  it  was  believed  would  comport  with  the 
delicacy  that  strangers  in  the  country  were  bound  to  observe  ; 
and  we  should  do  great  injustice  to  the  noble-minded  men  who 
are  the  victims  of  the  unsuccessful  effort  to  gain  the  independ 
ence  of  Poland,  did  we  not  add,  that  in  several  instances  our 
offers  were  declined,  gratefully  it  is  true,  but  with  a  proud 
reliance  on  their  personal  efforts  for  support.  At  this 
moment,  when  we  were  periodically  assembling  without  being 
able  to  effect  much  in  behalf  of  those  for  whom  the  succor 
had  been  intended,  it  became  apparent  that  it  was  the  policy 
of  the  States  adjoining  Poland  to  force  the  refugees  back 
into  the  power  of  their  enemies.  In  addition  to  this,  which 
of  itself  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  every  just 
mind,  we  had  reason  to  think,  that  while  our  money  was  use 
less  at  Paris,  it  might  relieve  many  brave  men  at  a  distance, 
who  were  actually  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  In 
this  view  of  the  case  it  was  decided  to  remit  a  portion  of 
our  funds  to  Germany. 

It  was  an  important  consideration  to  find  a  suitable  agent. 
Luckily,  our  Chairman  was  about  to  visit  the  North,  in  further 
ance  of  the  views  which  had  brought  him  to  Europe.  He  ac- 


102  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

cepted  the  trust  with  a  condition,  that  he  was  not  bound  to 
proceed  further  than  was  consistent  with  his  other  duties. 
With  this  understanding,  a  large  portion  of  our  funds  were 
placed  in  his  hands,  and  he  left  Paris  clothed  with  this  charit 
able  mission  in  the  month  of  January.  A  part  of  the  money 
confided  to  Dr.  Howe  was  distributed  by  that  gentleman  him 
self  to  different  Poles,  and  the  remainder  was  left  with  confi 
dential  persons  to  be  applied  as  he  had  directed.  We  are 'grieved 
to  be  compelled  to  say,  that  while  he  \vas  thus  employed,  Dr. 
Howe,  who,  it  was  understood,  acted  with  the  entire  approbation 
of  the  Prussian  local  authorities,  was  peremptorily  commanded 
to  leave  the  part  of  Prussia  where  the  Poles  were  quartered. 
He  instantly  obeyed,  taking  the  road  to  Berlin.  Here  it  would 
appear,  he  was  arrested,  shut  up  in  prison,  and  cut  off  from 
all  communication  with  his  countrymen.  At  the  end  of  more 
than  a  month,  he  was  sent  through  the  intermediate  States  of 
Germany  to  France,  being  escorted  the  whole  distance  by 
Prussian  gendarmes.  We  are  told,  it  was  pretended  that  Dr. 
Howe  was  engaged  in  a  mission  that  produced  an  indisposition 
in  the  Polish  soldiers  to  return  to  Poland,  which  was  declared 
to  be  an  offence  against  the  laws  of  Prussia.  It  is  unfortunate 
that  the  Prussian  authorities  did  not  find  it  convenient  to  vindi- 
dicate  themselves  in  the  open  and  loyal  manner  in  which  all 
just  acts  may  be  vindicated,  but  that  recourse  was  had  to 
secrecy ;  and  violent  measures  are  calculated  to  throw  distrust 
on  the  intentions  of  all  who  practice  them.  Dr.  Howe  says  he 
remonstrated  against  the  manner  in  which  he  was  banished 
from  Prussia,  that  he  denied  having  violated  any  law,  and  that 
he  repeatedly  demanded  a  trial. 

(Signed) 

J.  FENIMORE  COOPER, 
S.  F.  B.  MORSE, 

and  other  Americans. 

(July,  1832.) 

This  statement  to  the  American  people  (drawn  up 
probably  by  Mr.  Cooper)  was  submitted   to  General 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  103 

Lafayette  for  his  approval,  and  was  returned  by  him 
with  a  letter  in  his  characteristic  English,  which  is 
annexed.  Both  papers  were  published  together  in  the 
United  States  soon  after  Dr.  Howe's  return  thither  in 
the  autumn  of  1832.  Two  years  afterward  Lafayette 
died,  honored  and  lamented  everywhere,  but  par 
ticularly  in  the  United  States,  which  he  had  helped 
to  gain  their  freedom,  as  Howe  had  helped  the 
Greeks. 

LAFAYETTE'S  COMMENDATION  OF  DR.  HOWE. 

LA  GRANGE,  July  28,  1832. 

My  dear  Sir — The  Address  from  our  American-Polish  Com 
mittee,  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  the  special 
communication  to  the  fellow-citizens  who  have  bestowed  their 
confidence  upon  us,  could  not  but  meet  my  cordial  approbation 
and  sympathy.  Conscious  as  we  are  to  have  done  for  the  best 
in  the  execution  of  their  philanthropic  intentions,  it  must  be 
also  an  object  of  patriotic  gratification  to  think  that  their 
donations,  at  the  same  time  they  have  relieved  misfortune, 
highly  interesting,  have  done  great  and  extensive  credit  to  the 
American  character.  For  this  happy  result,  I  shall  take  every 
opportunity  to  say,  that  we  are  chiefly  owing  to  the  manner  in 
which  Dr.  Howe  has  acquitted  himself  of  the  mission  entrusted 
to  his  care.  While  we  are  to  thank  him  for  the  correctness  of 
his  conduct,  and  the  enlightened  zeal  of  his  exertions,  we  find 
in  those  circumstances,  and  the  other  proceedings  of  the  Com 
mittee,  in  concert  with  me,  new  motives  to  be  proud  of  the 
part  acted  by  American  donators,  and  to  cherish  the  hope  of  a 
continued  interest  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  behalf 
of  heroic  Poland,  and  her  exiled  sons,  whenever  occasion  offers 
for  its  emancipation.  I  am  happy  in  this  opportunity  ttrtjffer 
my  personal  acknowedgments  to  the  Chairman,  Secretary, 
and  Members  of  the  Committee,  who  will  ever  find  in  me  a 
grateful,  affectionate  fellow-citizen,  and  friend. 

LAFAYETTF. 


104  DR-    s-    G-    HOWE. 

Dr.  Howe  was  released  from  this  prison  after  a 
confinement  of  five  weeks,  during  which  he  paid 
board  to  his  jailer,  and  it  is  whispered,  won  the  favor 
of  the  jailer's  daughter,  who  saw  that  he  was  pro 
vided  with  writing  materials.  Years  afterward,  when 
the  King  of  Prussia  gave  him  a  gold  medal  for  his 
philanthropic  achievements  in  teaching  the  blind,  Dr. 
Howe  had  the  curiosity  to  weigh  it,  and  found  that 
its  value,  in  money,  was  equal  to  the  sum  which  he 
had  paid  the  Prussian  Government  for  his  prison 
board  and  lodging  in  1832. 

But  in  1843,  when  he  visited  Europe  again,  and 
desired  to  go  with  his  friend,  Horace  Mann,  to  Berlin, 
the  Government  of  Prussia  refused  him  permission 
to  reenter  the  country,  out  of  which  he  had  been 
escorted  by  two  gendarmes,  for  many  miles,  in  1832. 
Horace  Mann,  writing  to  Dr.  Howe  in  London 
(July  16,  1843),  from  Berlin,  has  this  to  say  of  that 
matter : 


"  It  was  not  until  our  arrival  here  that  we  became  fully 
aware  of  your  situation.  This  we  learned  from  Mr.  Wheaton 
(the  American  Minister),  and  it  has  been  with  the  deepest 
regret  that  we  have  learned  from  him,  day  after  day,  that  no 
answer  has  been  received  from  the  Government  in  reply  to  his 
application  for  your  admission.  In  the  meantime  I  consider  it 
a  compliment,  though  an  inconvenient  one,  to  you.  I  under 
stand  the  King  of  Prussia  has  about  200,000  men  constantly 
under  arms,  and,  if  necessary,  he  can  increase  his  force  to 
2,000,000.  This  shows  the  estimation  in  which  he  holds  your 
single  self ;  which,  so  far  as  the  Monarch  of  Prussia  can  confer 
honor  upon  you,  is  highly  honorable  to  you  and  creditable  to 
your  country.  If  he  is  so  afraid  of  one  American  citizen,  how 
much  must  he  respect  the  whole  country  ?  But  you  are  no 


YOUTHFUL    DARING.  105 

common  citizen,  and  probably  you  have  occupied  his  thoughts 
more  than  General  Jackson  or  John  Tyler."  * 

With  this  adventure  in  Prussia  ended  the  first 
period  of  Dr.  Howe's  life — what  we  have  called  his 
"  Youthful  Daring."  Writing  in  July,  1832,  Dr. 
Howe  said,  in  the  New  England  Magazine  (Sep 
tember,  1832):  "Thomas  Campbell  said  to  us  but  a 
few  weeks  ago  :  '  Your  country  is  a  glorious,  a  happy 
land,  and  I  would  soon  be  treading  her  shores  did  I 
not  think  it  the  duty  of  every  patriotic  Englishman 
to  stand  by  his  country  in  the  storm  which  may  ere 
long  burst  upon  her.'  America  is  the  watchword, 
the  rallying-cry  of  all  the  discontented  in  Europe  ; 
the  republican  in  France,  the  patriot  in  Spain  and 
Italy,  the  optimist  in  Germany,  and  the  liberal  every 
where  point  to  her  national  prosperity  as  a  striking 
contrast  to  their  national  misery.  Let  then,  the  Ameri 
can  who  distrusts  the  excellence  of  our  political  insti 
tutions,  look  at  distracted  and  convulsed  England,  let 
him  cross  to  distracted  and  unhappy  France,  or  look 
on  gagged  Italy  and  on  bleeding  Poland — and  he 
will  hurry  home,  blessing  God  that  his  lines  have 
fallen  in  pleasant  places."  In  this  spirit  he  returned 
home.  He  was  now  thirty-one  years  old  ;  he  had 
undertaken  an  important  work  of  philanthropy — the 
education  of  the  blind — and  he  was  to  devote  him 
self  to  this  and  to  kindred  good  works  for 
the  next  twenty  years.  But  his  eight  years' 
service  in  the  cause  of  national  freedom  in  other 
lands — which  was  to  be  supplemented  by  twenty 
years'  struggle  in  the  same  cause  at  home  (from 


1  Presidents  respectively  in  1832  and  1843. 


ICG  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

1845  to  1865),  had  left  their  mark  ineffaceably 
upon  his  character.  He  had  entered  on  his  chival 
rous  career  ;  he  had  guarded  his  arms,  won  his  spurs, 
and  proved  his  knighthood  by  deeds  as  valorous  and 
patient  as  those  of  any  chevalier  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
He  had  indeed  lived  the  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century  ;  for  Greece  and  Turkey, 
Poland  and  Russia,  in  their  contests,  repeated  the 
barbarism,  the  superstition,  the  ferocity  and  the  sim 
plicity  of  that  Age  of  Chivalry  which  has  been  cele 
brated  in  so  many  romances  : 

"  Knight  of  a  better  era, 

Without  reproach  or  fear  ! 
Said  I  not  well  that  Bayards 

And  Sidneys  still  are  here  ?  " 


BOOK    SECOND. 
PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION. 

1832-1846. 


"  Wouldst  know  him  now  ?     Behold  him, 

The  Cadmus  of  the  blind, 
Giving  the  dumb  lip  language, 
The  idiot  clay  a  mind. 

"  Walking  his  round  of  duty 

Serenely  day  by  day, 
With  the  strong  man's  hand  of  labor, 
And  childhood's  heart  of  play." 

WHITTIER  (The Hero). 

The  name  of  Laura  Bridgman's  great  benefactor  and 
friend  is  DOCTOR  HOWE.  There  are  not  many  persons,  I 
hope  and  believe,  who,  after  reading  her  story,  can  ever 
hear  that  name  with  indifference. 

CHARLES  DICKENS  (1842 — American  Notes). 


CHAPTER  I. 

BOSTON      IN     THE      DAYS     OF       JACKSON,      ADAMS,      AND 
WEBSTER. 

PHILANTHROPY  is  not  an  American  invention.  The 
name  indicates  a  Greek  origin,  and  it  received  some 
commentary  from  Bacon  in  one  of  his  Essays,  where 
he  says  :  "  I  take  goodness  in  this  sense — the  affecting 
of  the  weal  of  men — which  is  that  the  Grecians  call 
Philanthropia;  and  the  word  Humanity  (as  it  is  used) 
is  a  little  too  light  to  express  it.  This,  of  all  virtues 
and  dignities  of  the  mind,  is  the  greatest,  being  the 
character  of  the  Deity;  and,  without  it,  man  is  a  busy, 
mischievous,  wretched  thing,  no  better  than  a  kind  of 
vermin."  But  though  philanthropy  was  discovered 
before  Boston  was,  there  are  few  places  in  the  world 
where  it  has  been  practiced  better,  or  carried  to 
higher  degrees  of  activity  than  in  Boston  and  Massa 
chusetts.  So  evident  was  this  in  1842,  when  Charles 
Dickens  first  saw  Boston,  that  he  says:  * 

"  I  sincerely  believe  that  the  public  institutions  and 
charities  of  this  capital  of  Massachusetts  are  as  nearly 
perfect  as  the  most  considerate  wisdom,  benevolence, 
and  humanity,  can  make  them.  I  never  in  my  life 
was  more  affected  by  the  contemplation  of  happiness, 
under  circumstances  of  privation  and  bereavement, 
than  in  my  visits  to  these  establishments." 


1  American  Notes  Chapter  3. 

(109) 


110  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

It  was  of  Dr.  Howe's  school  for  the  Blind  that 
Dickens  was  specially  thinking,  when  he  wrote  this, 
though  other  noble  philanthropies  entered  his 
thought;  and  it  was  to  Dr.  Howe  more  than  to  any 
one  man  that  Massachusetts  then  owed,  and  still 
owes,  what  is  best  in  her  charitable  system.  He  had 
shown  his  great  capacity  for  philanthropic  work  by 
his  masterly  administration  of  the  gifts  sent  to  the 
Greeks  in  1827-28,  but  his  first  definite  task  was  the 
organization  of  the  Asylum  for  the  Blind,  between 
1832  and  1842.  In  the  first  thirty  years  of  his 
life  Dr.  Howe  was  exhibiting  his  character  rather 
than  performing  his  true  work,  or  perhaps  we  might 
better  describe  this  period  as  his  apprenticeship,  and 
his  journey-work — the  Lehrjahre  and  Wanderjahre  ot 
the  great  German  romance.  He  was  now,  in  the 
summer  of  1832,  about  to  begin  on  his  actual  task  in 
life,  the  uplifting  of  the  race  by  education,  and  by 
the  creation  of  an  original  institution  of  philanthropy. 
Such,  in  fact,  was  the  Massachusetts  School  and 
Asylum  for  the  Blind — the  pioneer  of  such  establish 
ments  in  America,  and  the  most  illustrious  of  its  class 
in  the  world.  Horace  Mann,  who  knew  what  an  edu 
cational  success  is,  if  ever  any  man  did,  said  of  it  in 
1841,  before  it  was  yet  ten  years  old:  "I  would 
rather  have  built  up  the  Blind  Asylum,  than  have 
written  Hamlet,  and  one  day  everybody  will  think 
so."  It  was,  in  fact,  a  work  of  constructive  genius, 
though  of  a  less  poetic  imagination,  worthy  to  be  com 
pared  with  Hamlet  or  any  great  drama;  and  the  true 
place  of  Dr.  Howe  is  not  with  men  of  talent,  like 
Horace  Mann  and  Theodore  Parker,  but  with  men  of 
genius  like  Emerson  and  Carlyle,  who  were  his  con- 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  Ill 

temporaries.  He  foresaw  the  result  long  before  he 
reached  it,  as  men  of  genius  do — and  he  fructified 
numberless  disciples,  emulators,  and  imitators,  as 
Carlyle  and  Emerson  also  have  done.  Like  them, 
too,  he  was  not  very  consecutive  in  his  work.  He 
planted  for  others  to  reap  the  harvest,  and,  while  men 
were  admiring  what  he  had  achieved,  he  had  already 
quitted  that  achievement,  and  was  passing  on  to 
something  newer.  "  There  is  hope,"  said  Emerson, 
"  of  a  future  world,  where  we  shall  not  repeat  the 
same  experiences  forever,  but  go  forward  to  new 
ones;"  and  that  also  was  the  hope  and  the  practice  of 
Howe.  When  his  arrow  had  once  hit  the  mark,  he 
did  not  repeat  the  shot,  but  aimed  higher,  until  the 
shaft  kindled  in  the  air,  like  that  of  Virgil's  Trojan 
archer,  and  flew  onward  toward  Olympus.  He  was, 
therefore,  ever  unsatisfied,  unresting;  the  goal  receded 
as  he  gained  it,  and  a  new  ambition  constantly 
replaced  his  earlier  ones. 

The  Boston  of  Dr.  Howe's  philanthropic  period 
was  a  very  different  place  from  what  it  now  is,  and 
had  broadened  and  beautified  itself  greatly  since  his 
boyhood  at  the  Latin  school.  Fanny  Kemble,  visit 
ing  it  for  the  first  time  in  1833,  when  she  was  a  bril 
liant  and  admired  actress,  and  before  her  unfortunate 
marriage  to  Pierce  Butler  of  Georgia,  thus  described 
it :  "  As  a  town,  Boston  bears  more  resemblance  to  an 
English  city  than  any  we  have  yet  seen  ;  it  is  one  of 
the  pleasantest  towns  imaginable.  It  is  built  upon 
three  hills,  which  give  it  a  singular,  picturesque 
appearance,  and,  I  suppose,  suggested  the  name  of 
Tremont  street,  etc.  The  houses  are  many  of  them 
of  fine  granite,  and  have  an  air  of  wealth  and  solidity 


112  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

unlike  anything  we  have  seen  elsewhere  in  this 
country.  They  are  built  more  in  our  own  fashion  ; 
and  there  is  a  beautiful  park  called  the  Common, 
which,  together  with  the  houses  round  it,  reminded 
me  a  good  deal  of  the  Green  Park  in  London  and 
the  walk  at  the  back  of  Arlington  street.  Many  of 
the  streets  are  planted  with  trees,  chiefly  fine  horse- 
chestnuts,  which  were  in  full  leaf  and  blossom,  and 
harmonized  beautifully  with  the  gray  color  and  solid, 
handsome  style  of  the  houses."  Dwellings  then  ran 
up  and  down  the  slopes  of  Beacon  Hill,  descending 
into  Winter,  Summer,  Beacon,  and  Park  streets,  and 
also  along  the  slopes  of  Fort  Hill,  to  the  southeast, 
at  the  foot  of  which  ran  Pearl  street,  where  Colonel 
Perkins,  the  merchant-prince  of  Boston,  lived,  and 
where  Dr.  Howe  in  time  established  his  Blind  Asylum. 
All  these  streets  had  gardens  as  well  as  spreading 
trees,  and  the  Common  gave  to 

"The  sunny  street  that  held  the  sifted  few," 

as  Dr.  Holmes  says,  a  pleasant  country  look,  and  a  hint 
of  fields  and  pastures.  There  was  no  Public  Garden 
then,  and  Beacon  street  ended  in  a  granite  block, 
before  reaching  the  Mill  Dam,  over  which  was  the 
favorite  drive.  The  Athenaeum  library  and  picture- 
gallery  was  on  Pearl  street,  and  there  might  be  seen 
a  few  marbles  by  Horatio  Greenough,  a  few  canvases 
by  Allston,  and  some  fine  portraits  by  Copley  and 
Stuart.  There  were  three  young  poets  just  coming 
forward — Willis,  a  graduate  of  Yale,1  Holmes  from 


1  Willis  had  made  Dr.  Howe's  acquaintance  in  Paris  in  the 
winter  of  1830-31.  In  1832  his  home  was  in  New  York,  but  he  was 
traveling  abroad.  He  was  four  years  younger  than  Howe. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  113 

Harvard,  and  Longfellow  of  Bowiloin— but  soon  pro 
moted  to  his  Harvard  professorship,  in  which  lie 
succeeded  George  Ticknor.  Bryant  was  in  New 
York  editing  the  Evening  Post.  The  elder  Dana  was 
idling  in  Cambridge,  and  Percival  had  shut  himself 
up  at  New  Haven.  Emerson  had  left  his  North  End 
pulpit,  and  was  traveling  in  Europe,  but  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  preached  in  Federal  street  and  old  Dr.  Beecher 
in  Harvard  street.  "  Boston  had  her  Beethoven 
concerts,  and  much  good  preaching."  Webster  and 
Everett  were  leaders  in  society,  and  Sumner  was 
coming  up  as  a  promising  young  lawyer,  under  the 
patronage  of  Judge  Story,  who  lived  in  Cambridge. 
Motley  was  a  student  in  Germany,  and  had  not  yet 
become  a  novelist,  much  less  a  historian  ;  his  bent  was 
toward  literature,  however,  as  was  that  of  Howe  for 
some  years.  Willis's  American  Monthly  Magazine, 
which  led  a  precarious  existence  in  Boston  from  1829 
to  1831,  was  flourishing  as  a  part  of  the  New  York 
Mirror,  and  its  place  had  been  taken  by  the  New 
England  Magazine,  of  which  Howe  was  for  a  time 
the  editor,  and  Hawthorne,  Holmes,  and  Longfellow 
the  most  illustrious  contributors.  That  prose  poet  of 
Massachusetts — "  New  England's  Chaucer,"  as  Ellery 
Channing  styled  him — Hawthorne  was  living  ob 
scurely  in  Salem  and  trying  to  sell  his  tales  and 
sketches.  The  North  American  Review,  in  the  hands 
of  some  Cambridge  scholars,  was  the  great  authority 
in  literary,  historical,  and  political  affairs  ;  but  the 
transcendentalists  and  their  Dial  were  beginning  to 
dawn. 

Great   had  been  the  changes  in  Boston  and  New 
York  since  Dr.  Howe  first  went  to  Greece.     In  1820, 


114  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Dr.  Charming,  who  was  even  then  a  profound  spirit 
ual  power  in  Boston,  had  gone  to  preach  a  Sunday  in 
the  City  of  New  York — but  no  church  would  open  to 
hear  him.  Dr.  J.  \V.  Francis,  an  illustrious  physician 
there,  tells  the  queer  story.  x  The  College  of  Physi 
cians  and  Surgeons  opened  a  room  to  Dr.  Channing 
and  the  Unitarians.  "  Some  three  days  after  that 
Sunday  I  accidentally  met  the  great  theological 
thunderbolt  of  the  time,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  who 
approached,  and  in  earnestness  exclaimed,  *  You  doc 
tors  have  been  engaged  in  a  wrongful  work  ;  you 
have  permitted  heresy  to  come  in  among  us,  and  have 
countenanced  its  approach  ;  you  have  furnished 
accommodations  for  the  devil's  disciples.'  I  replied, 
'We  saw  no  such  great  evil  in  an  act  of  religious 
toleration.'  'Do  you  know  what  you  have  done?' 
cried  the  doctor,  with  enkindled  warmth,  '  You  have 
advanced  infidelity  by  complying  with  the  request  of 
these  skeptics.'  *  Sir,'  said  I,  *  we  hardly  felt  disposed 
to  sift  their  articles  of  belief  as  a  religious  society.' 
'There,  sir,  there  is  the  difficulty,'  exclaimed  the  doc 
tor.  'Belief?  they  have  no  belief;  they  believe  in 
nothing,  having  nothing  to  believe.  They  are  a 
paradox  ;  you  cannot  fathom  them.  How  can  you 
fathom  a  thing  that  has  no  bottom  ? '  I  left  Dr. 
Mason  dreadfully  indignant."  Such  was  orthodox 
New  York  in  1820.  Yet  before  Dr.  Channing's  death 
in  1842,  almost  the  same  feeling  had  been  manifested 
against  Theodore  Parker  in  Boston  itself,  where 
Unitarian  ism  had  long  been  paramount. 


1  Old  New  York,  p  154,  cited  in  Godwin's  Life  of  William  Cul- 
len  Bryant. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  115 

In  1833,  Parker  was  in  the  Divinity  School  at 
Cambridge,  and  Dr.  Channing  was  preaching  in  his 
Federal  Street  Church,  at  Boston,  not  far  from 
Colonel  Perkins's  house  in  Pearl  street.  Parker,  who 
did  not  know  Dr.  Howe  at  that  time,  but  afterwards 
became  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  has  well 
described  the  spiritual  characteristics  of  the  years 
from  1834  to  1840,  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity  :  "  The 
years  of  my  theological  study,  and  of  my  early  minis 
try,  fell  in  the  most  interesting  period  of  New  Eng 
land's  spiritual  history,  when  a  great  revolution  went 
on,  so  silent  that  few  even  knew  it  was  taking  place. 
The  Unitarians,  after  a  long  and  bitter  controversy, 
had  conquered  and  secured  their  right  to  deny  the 
Trinity  ;  they  had  won  the  respect  of  the  New  Eng 
land  public,  had  absorbed  most  of  the  religious  talent 
of  Massachusetts,  and  possessed  and  liberally  admin 
istered  the  oldest  and  richest  college  in  America. 
Mr.  Garrison,  with  his  friends — inheriting  what  was 
best  in  the  Puritan  founders  of  New  England,  fired 
with  the  zeal  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  Christian 
martyrs,  while  they  were  animated  with  a  spirit  of 
humanity  rarely  found  in  any  of  the  three — was  begin 
ning  his  noble  work,  but  in  a  style  so  humble  that, 
after  long  search,  the  police  of  Boston  discovered 
there  was  nothing  dangerous  in  it,  for  "  his  only 
visible  auxiliary  was  a  negro  boy."  Dr.  Channing 
was  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers  ;  and,  after 
long  preaching  the  dignity  of  human  nature  as  an 
abstraction,  and  piety  as  a  purely  inward  life — with 
rare  and  winsome  eloquence,  and  ever-progressive 
humanity,  began  to  apply  his  sublime  doctrines  to 
actual  life — in  the  individual,  the  State,  and  the 


Il6  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Church.  In  the  name  of  Christianity  the  great 
American  Unitarian  called  for  the  reform  of  the 
drunkard,  the  elevation  of  the  poor,  the  instruction 
of  the  ignorant,  and,  above  all,  for  the  liberation  of 
the  American  slave.  Horace  Mann,  with  his  coadju 
tors,  began  a  great  movement  to  improve  the  public 
education  of  the  people.  The  brilliant  genius  of 
Emerson  rose  in  the  winter  nights,  and  hung  over 
Boston,  drawing  the  eyes  of  ingenuous  young  people 
to  look  up  to  that  great  new  star — a  beauty  and  a  mys 
tery.  The  rights  of  labor  were  discussed  with  deep 
philanthropic  feeling  and  sometimes  with  profound 
thought.  Mr.  George  Ripley,  a  born  democrat,  in 
the  high  sense  of  that  abused  word,  and  one  of  the 
best  cultured  and  most  enlightened  men  in  America, 
made  an  attempt  at  Brook  Farm  so  to  organize 
society  that  the  results  of  labor  should  remain  in  the 
workman's  hand.  The  natural  rights  of  women 
began  to  be  inquired  into,  and  publicly  discussed.  I 
count  it  a  piece  of  good  fortune  that  I  was  a  young 
man  when  these  things  were  taking  place  ;  when 
great  questions  were  discussed,  and  the  public  had 
not  yet  taken  sides."1 

Upon  some  of  these  questions  Dr.  Howe  was  slow 
to  take  sides.  He  had  been  bred  a  "  democrat  "  or 
"  jacobin  "  in  Boston  ;  but  he  was  now  a  whig,  and,  in 
some  respects,  conservative.  He  did  not  favor  tran 
scendentalism,  nor  emancipation,  nor  woman's  rights, 
nor  free  inquiry  in  religion,  very  early  in  his  active 
career.  Writing  to  Horace  Mann  in  1857,  he  said  : 

"  I  have  been  called  a  philanthropist,  which  implies 


1  Theodore  Parker's  "  Experience  as  a  Minister,"  Boston,  1859. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  117 

a  man  who,  par  excellence,  is  a  lover  of  his  kind,  and 
one  who  labors  from  disinterested  motives  for  its 
welfare.  Now  I  am  none  of  this.  I  do  not  think  I 
have  any  more  than  average  benevolence  ;  and  I  do 
think  I  have  a  great  deal  of  selfishness,  especially  in 
the  later  years  of  my  life.  I  think  that  I  was  impelled 
in  early  life  to  courses  of  conduct,  such  as  going  to 
Greece,  rather  by  thoughtless  indifference,  perhaps 
ignorance  of  what  courses  would  have  been  profitable 
to  me.  Lacking  prudence  and  calculation,  I  followed 
an  adventurous  spirit.  I  have  no  more  than  ordinary 
courage  ;  though  love  of  adventure  has  carried  me 
into  many  dangers,  I  have  been  habitually  and 
never  ceasingly  aware  of  the  presence  of  danger,  and 
circumspect.  I  always  have  in  mind  the  safest  place 
in  the  cars,  for  instance,  and  am  wary  about  getting 
into  danger,  though  able  to  appear  decently  cool 
when  it  comes.  .  .  .  My  father,  an  uneducated  man, 
only  wished,  without  knowing  how,  to  make  me  a 
scholar.  He  was  wealthy  during  my  childhood  and 
boyhood  ;  and  I  lacked  that  inestimable  advantage, 
which  children  in  indigent  families  have,  of  habits  of 
prudence  and  economy.  My  father  had  a  large  and 
luxurious  house,  with  servants,  horses,  etc.,  at  com 
mand." 

All  this,  though  too  modestly  written,  discloses  the 
obstacles  which  Howe's  nature  would  place  in  the 
way  of  a  life  devoted  to  philanthropy.  He  was 
brought  up  in  ease  ;  he  had  a  wilful  way  of  doing 
what  he  desired  ;  he  had  aristocratic  tastes,  and 
valued  the  good  opinion  of  society,  which,  at  Boston 
in  1833,  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  deeds  of  humble 
heroism,  though  proud  of  what  "  the  Lafayette  of 


Il8  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Boston  "  had  done  in  Greece  and  Paris  and  Poland, 
yet,  when  he  had  once  enlisted  in  his  work  for  the 
blind,  he  knew  how  to  turn  these  very  social  forces 
to  account.  Miss  Peabody,  the  sister-in-law  of 
Horace  Mann  and  of  Hawthorne,  writing  soon  after 
Dr.  Howe's  death  in  1876,  spoke  thus  of  his  small 
beginning  in  the  way  of  blind-instruction,  and  the 
response  which  the  Boston  of  1833  made  to  his 
appeals  : 

"  When  we  first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Mann,  he  took 
Mary  (afterwards  Mrs.  Mann)  and  me  to  a  small  wooden  house 
in  Hollis  street,  where,  in  the  simplest  surroundings,  we  found 
Dr.  Howe,  with  the  half-dozen  first  pupils  he  had  picked  up  in 
the  .highways  and  by-ways.  He  had  then  been  about  six  months 
at  work,  and  had  invented  and  laboriously  executed  some  books 
with  raised  letters,  to  teach  them  to  read,  some  geographical 
maps,  and  the  geometrical  diagrams  necessary  for  instruction 
in  mathematics.  He  had  gummed  twine,  I  think,  upon  card 
board,  an  enormous  labor,  to  form  the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 
I  shall  not,  in  all  time,  forget  the  impression  made  upon  me  by 
seeing  the  hero  of  the  Greek  Revolution,  who  had  narrowly 
missed  being  that  of  the  Polish  Revolution  also ;  to  see  this 
hero,  I  say,  wholly  absorbed,  and  applying  all  the  energies  of 
his  genius  to  this  apparently  humble  work,  and  doing  it  as 
Christ  did,  without  money  and  without  price.  His  own  resour 
ces  at  this  time  could  not  have  paid  the  expenses  of  his  under 
taking,  with  all  the  economy  and  self-denial  he  practiced.  The 
fuller  purse  of  his  friend  and  brother,  Dr.  Fisher,  assisted  him. 
Soon  after  our  visit  to  him,  he  brought  out  his  class  for  exhibi 
tion,  in  order  to  interest  people  and  get  money  sufficient  to 
carry  on  the  work  upon  a  larger  scale.  The  many  exhibitions 
given  created  a  furor  of  enthusiasm,  and  Col.  Perkins's  great 
heart  responded  to  the  moving  appeal.  He  now  offered  his  fine 
estate  on  Pearl  street,  a  large  house  and  grounds,  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  the  blind,  provided  the  citizens  of  Boston  would 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  119 

raise  $50,000  for  the  same  purpose.  To  this  appeal  the  ladies 
responded  by  planning  and  holding  the  first  fancy  fair  ever 
known  in  Boston.  It  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  everybody 
contributed,  either  in  money  or  in  articles  for  the  sale;  the  net 
result  was  nearly  $50,000." 

This  narrative,  like  so  much  that  the  enthusiastic 
Miss  Peabody  wrote  in  her  later  years,  is  not  quite 
exact.  Dr.  Howe's  school  was  at  his  father's  house 
in  Pleasant  street,  not  in  Hollis  street,  though  near 
by.  The  exact  sum  raised  by  the  sale  of  articles  at 
the  Faneuil  Hall  fair  was  $11,000;  the  rest  of  the 
$50,000  came  from  individual  subscriptions,  collected 
by  Deacon  May  and  other  well-known  citizens  of 
Boston.  Jonathan  Phillips,  who  held,  by  a  sort  of 
entail,  the  great  Phillips  estate  (which,  but  for  his 
radical  opinions,  might  have  descended  to  Wendell 
Phillips,  his  kinsman),  gave  $5,000.  Others  gave 
according  to  their  substance,  and  in  six  weeks  the- 
whole  sum  named  by  Colonel  Perkins  was  raised,  and 
his  fine  house,  stables,  and  quarter-acre  of  land  in 
Pearl  street  passed  into  the  possession  of  Dr.  Howe's 
trustees,  one  of  whom  was  Dr.  Fisher,  and  another 
Horace  Mann. 

Dr.  Howe's  brief  memorandum  also  differs  a  little 
from  the  exact  fact.  He  said  in  1857,  twenty-five 
years  afterward  : 

In  1832  I  put  the  Institution  for  the  Blind  into  operation, 
and  have  administered  it  ever  since.  As  soon  as  I  had  taught 
two  or  three  children,  which  I  did  in  my  father's  house  * — for 
the  institution  was  then  poor  and  had  no  quarters — I  went 
about  the  State  and  about  New  England  with  them,  giving 


1  There  were  soon  six. 


120  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

exhibitions  and  raising  money.  In  this  way  mainly  the  funds 
were  raised  to  secure  the  gift  of  Colonel  Perkins.  Afterwards, 
I  went  over  the  United  States,  also,  addressing  seventeen  leg 
islatures  in  order  to  induce  them  to  provide  for  the  education 
of  the  blind.  Great  success  attended  this  movement  every 
where.  All  the  legislatures,  and  all  the  people  whom  I 
addressed  showed  great  interest,  and  took  active  measures. 
The  Asylum  for  the  Blind  is  mainly  the  result  of  my  labors. 
Success  in  teaching  some  blind  idiotic  children  gave  me  an 
interest  in  the  subject  of  educating  idiots. 

In  fact,  the  whole  better  education  of  the  blind  and 
of  the  idiotic  in  the  United  States  grew  out  of  these 
enthusiastic  labors  of  Howe  ;  although  others  had  a 
share  in  the  great  work.  But  none  other  had  the 
comprehensive  glance,  the  incessant  action,  the 
instinct  for  the  point  to  be  reached,  and  the  way  to 
reach  it  successfully.  It  will  surprise  some  readers, 
who  always  think  of  Howe  as  a  foe  of  the  slave 
holders,  to  learn  that  in  November,  1841,  he  was 
crusading  in  South  Carolina  in  behalf  of  the  educa 
tion  of  the  blind.  Writing  to  their  common  friend, 
Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  then  a  professor  at  the  South 
Carolina  College  in  Columbia,  Charles  Sumner  says, 
November  30,  1841  : 

I  am  here  with  Dr.  Howe  (at  South  Boston)  on  a  farewell 
visit.  He  starts  to-morrow  for  South  Carolina,  to  endeavor  to 
induce  your  Legislature  to  do  something  for  the  blind.  The 
Doctor  moves  rapidly  and  will  be  in  Columbia  almost  as  soon 
as  this  letter.1  Cannot  you  do  something  to  pave  the  way  for 
his  coming  ?  A  notice  of  his  institution,  of  his  labors,  of  his 
philanthropic  character,  and  his  distinguished  success  in  teach 
ing  the  blind,  might  be  published  in  one  of  your  papers,  and  do 


Pierce's  "  Memoir  of  Charles  Sumner,"  Vol.  II,  p.  187. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  121 

much  good.  He  will  have  with  him  two  of  his  blind  girls  for 
exhibition  before  the  Legislature.  To  you  who  know  Howe,  I 
need  hardly  add  that  this  journey  is  undertaken  with  the  hope 
of  extending  the  means  of  education  for  that  unfortunate  class 
to  whom  he  has  devoted  so  much  time.  You  know  the  chiv 
alry  of  his  character,  and  his  disinterested  devotion  to  this 
object — how  his  soul  is  absorbed  in  it. 

In  an  earlier  letter  from  Sumner  to  Lieber  in  the 
same  year,  the  character  of  his  friend  is  even  more 
tenderly  dwelt  on.  The  wonderful  experiment  of 
teaching  Laura  Bridgman,  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind 
child  from  New  Hampshire,  was  then  in  its  early 
stages,  and  Howe  had  been  reporting  on  her  case  to 
the  patrons  of  his  school.  Sumner  writes  to  Lieber 
(June  3,  1841): * 

Dr.  Howe  will  be  happy  to  have  you  make  any  use  you  see 
fit  of  his  report  on  Laura  Bridgman.  I  am  very  much  attached 
to  Howe.  He  is  the  soul  of  disinterestedness.  He  has  purged 
his  soul  from  all  considerations  of  self,  so  far  as  mortal  may  do 
this  ;  and  his  sympathies  embrace  all  creatures.  To  this  high 
est  feature  of  goodness  add  intelligence  and  experience  of  no 
common  order — all  elevated  and  refined  by  a  chivalrous  sense 
of  honor,  and  a  mind  withont  fear.  I  think  of  the  words  of  the 
Persian  poet,  when  I  meet  Howe  ;  "  O  God  !  have  pity  on  the 
wicked'!  the  good  need  it  not,  for,  in  making  them  good,thou 
hast  done  enough."  Both  have  been  wanderers,  and  both  are 
bachelors,  so  we  are  together  a  good  deal  ;  we  drive  fast  and 
hard,  and  talk — looking  at  the  blossoms  in  the  fields,  or  those 
fairer  in  the  streets. 

In  fact  Howe's  bachelor  home  at  Washington 
Heights,  and  Longfellow's  abode  at  the  old  head 
quarters  of  Washington  in  Cambridge,  became  Sum- 


"Memoir  of  Charles  Sumner,"  Vol.  II,  p.  179. 


122  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

ner's  most  frequent  resorts,  in  those  days,  soon  after 
his  return  from  England  in  1840,  when  every  gentle 
man's  house  in  Boston  was  open  to  Sumner,  as  the 
houses  of  whig  and  tory  had  been  in  England. 
There  came  a  bitter  change  in  this  respect  (in  Boston) 
as  Sumner  ranged  himself  more  and  more  distinctly 
on  the  side  of  freedom,  and  against  both  Webster 
and  Winthrop  in  Boston.  But  in  1840,  when  Willis, 
the  poet,  who  had  his  own  reasons  for  disliking  Bos 
ton,  poured  out  to  Longfellow  his  disgust,  he  excepted 
Sumner  from  the  censure.  He  wrote  x  (September  15, 
1840): 

I  confess  that  I  see  everything,  even  my  friends,  through 
my  bilious  spectacles  in  Boston.  I  do  not  enjoy  anything  or 
anybody  within  its  abominable  periphery  of  hills  and  salt- 
marshes.  Even  you  seem  not  what  you  would  be  at  Glenmary 
(Willis's  cottage  at  Owego,  N.Y.);  and  I  prefer  Sumner  sea 
sick  in  a  head  wind  in  the  English  Channel,  to  Sumner  with  his 
rosiest  gills,  and  reddest  waistcoat  in  Boston.  By  the  way,  how 
is  our  agreeable  friend  ?  And  have  the  nankeen-trousered  Bos- 
tonians  yet  begun  to  qualify  their  admiration  of  him  ?  There  is 
no  excuse  for  disliking  Sumner.  He  bears  his  honors  so  meekly 
and  is  so  thoroughly  a  good  fellow,  that  if  they  do  not  send  him 
to  Congress  and  love  him  forever,  I  will  deny  my  cradle. 

Willis  was,  and  is  regarded  rather  as  a  dandy  than 
a  prophet  ;  but  he  seems  to  have  predicted  very 
sagely  in  this  case.  He  had  a  like  admiration,  and 
more  attachment  for  Howe  ;  but  neither  Howe  nor 
Sumner  in  those  days  were  disturbed  by  dreams  of 
political  ambition.  Philanthropy,  scholarship,  and 
literature  were  more  attractive  to  them  ;  and  they 


1  Henry  Waclsvvorth  Longfellow.     "Final  Memorial"  (Boston: 
Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887),  pp.  11-12. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  123 

looked  on  all  literature  and  all  scholarship  through  a 
golden  mist  of  philanthropy.  It  was  the  philanthropy 
of  "  Evangeline  "  that  Howe  admired  most  in  that 
beautiful  poem  ;  and  though  his  letter  to  Longfel 
low  concerning  it  is  a  little  out  of  time  here  (written 
in  1847)  it  should  be  quoted  in  this  connection  x 

MY  DEAR  LONGFELLOW: 

I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  the  kind  remembrance  which 
you  manifested  by  sending  me  your  little  book.  Had  it  been  a 
trifle,  a  straw,  a  word  only,  which  assured  me  of  that  remem 
brance,  it  would  have  been  most  grateful  to  me.  How  much 
more,  then,  such  a  book  !  It  is  not  for  myself  alone  that  I  have 
to  thank  you ;  but  as  one  of  many  thousands  who  will  read 
"  Evangeline."  A  book  !  A  book  that  pleases,  instructs,  improves 
people,  what  a  gift  to  the  world  !  You  feed  five  times  five 
thousand  souls  with  spiritual  food,  which  makes  them  forever 
stronger  and  better. 

I  have  no  scholarship ;  I  cannot  appreciate  the  literary 
merits  of  "Evangeline."  I  cannot  even  say  that  I  like  the  hybrid 
character  of  the  measure ;  it  would  perhaps  have  pleased  me 
better  in  ordinary  verse,  or  in  plain  prose.  But  I  can  under 
stand  and  admire  the  instructive  story,  the  sublime  moral,  the 
true  poetry  which  it  contains.  Patience,  forbearance,  long-suf 
fering,  faith — these  are  the  things  which  "  Evangeline  "  teaches. 
And  how  much  are  these  above  the  physical  courage,  the 
resistance,  the  passion,  the  strife — the  things  of  earth  which 
poets  deck  out  in  the  hues  of  heaven,  and  make  men  believe  to 
be  truly  glorious !  But  I  meant  only  to  send  you  my  poor 
thanks  for  your  kind  remembrance,  and  will  not  be  so  ungrate 
ful  as  to  impose  upon  you  my  stupid  comments.  So  I  will 
only  add  that,  though  I  see  little  of  you,  I  will  try  to  have 
some  of  "  Evangeline's  "  constancy,  in  my  hope  of  one  day 
enjoying  more  of  your  society. 


»  "  Life  of  H.  W.  Longfellow,"  Vol.  II,  p.  97, 


124  DR-    s-    G-    HOWE. 

The  tone  of  self-disparagement  here  taken  by 
Howe  was  not  unusual  with  him  ;  for  his  nature 
inclined  him  to  melancholy  ;  but  none  of  those  who 
were  honored  with  his  acquaintance  would  admit  for 
a  moment  that  he  was  in  any  sense  inferior  to  his 
eminent  friends.  On  the  contrary,  his  place  was 
indicated  by  his  presence,  like  the  Highland  chief 
tain's  :  "Wherever  The  Macdonald  sat  was  the  head  of 
the  table  ;"  though  none  was  less  forward  to  assert  a 
claim.  What  he  lacked  in  literary  culture  even,  was 
apt  to  be  made  good  by  the  directness  with  which  he 
flew  to  his  aim — and  that  aim  always  a  high  one. 
This  has  been  seen  already  in  his  sketches  of  the 
Greek  Revolution,  and  his  letters  from  Europe  ;  but 
it  will  appear  still  more  striking  in  what  he  had  to 
say  concerning  Laura  Bridgman. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    BLIND    ASYLUM    AND    ITS    PRINTING    HOUSE. 

FROM  the  moment  Dr.  Howe  touched  the  long- 
existing  theories  and  methods  of  teaching  the  blind, 
they  began  to  assume  new  forms  and  produce  new 
results.  The  Abbe  Haiiy  in  Paris,  sixty  years  before, 
had  invented  an  alphabet  for  the  blind,  and  many 
schools  in  Europe  were  using  it,  and  modifying  it,  but 
when  the  young  American  philanthropist  saw  these 
schools  in  1831-32,  he  felt,  instinctively  that  he  could 
do  better.  His  was  a  practical  genius,  like  that  of 
Franklin  a  century  before  ;  into  both  of  them  had 
been  infused  that  strange  American  elixir  of  inven 
tion  which  has  given  to  this  continent  in  the  last 
hundred  years  the  glory  of  alleviating  so  much  pain, 
abbreviating  so  much  time  and  space,  extending  so 
wonderfully  the  labors  of  the  industrious,  and  giving 
to  the  toiler  and  his  household  something  like  their 
fair  share  of  what  that  labor  produces.  With  an  eye 
for  money-making,  Dr.  Howe  might  have  become  a 
famous  and  rich  inventor  ;  but  he  "affected  the  weal 
of  men,"  as  Bacon  says,  and  let  his  own  glory  and 
aggrandizement  take  care  of  themselves. 

From  citations  and  comments  we  make  up  this 
story  of  the  Blind  Asylum: 


126  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

THE    SCHOOL    FCR    THE    BLIND,    JANUARY,    1833. 

(Correspondent  of  the  Newburyport  Herald.} 

By  invitation  of  a  friend,  I  spent  some  time  this  afternoon  in 
the  school  for  the  blind,  recently  established  in  this  city,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  society  which  is  styled  in  their  act  of  incor 
poration  the  New  England  Asylum  for  the  Blind.  Regarding 
the  composition  of  this  school,  the  name  of  the  society  is  not 
perhaps  so  appropriate  ;  but  this  is  of  small  consideration  com 
pared  with  the  benefits  of  the  thing  itself.  For  my  own  part  I 
must  confess  I  was  astonished  at  the  progress  made  by  the 
pupils  of  this  school.  Taught  as  they  are  through  the  medium 
of  touch,  they  have  attained  surprising  perfection.  A  little  girl, 
only  six  years  old,  read  with  very  considerable  facility  certain 
portions  of  Scripture :  and  another,  only  eight,  passages 
selected  from  various  authors,  differing  widely  in  their  style. 
They  and  other  pupils  answered  also  numerous  questions  from 
the  maps,  estimating  distances  with  great  accuracy.  The 
books  used  were  imprinted  with  raised  characters  palpable  to 
the  touch  ;  and  the  several  natural  features  and  divisions  of 
particular  countries  on  the  maps  were  also  distinguished  in  the 
same  manner.  During  our  stay,  we  were  favored  with  a  rich 
musical  treat,  to  which  all  the  pupils  contributed.  One  of 
them,  a  female,  played  upon  the  pianoforte  and  another,  a 
young  man,  upon  the  violoncello  ;  these  were  accompanied  by 
the  voices  of  the  whole  school.  The  institution  has  been  in 
operation  only  five  months. 

The  school  is  held  at  present  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Howe,  well 
known  for  his  adventures  in  Greece,  and  his  late  imprisonment 
in  Prussia.  When  arrested,  he  was  employed  as  an  agent  by 
the  New  England  Asylum.  He  brought  with  him,  from  France, 
a  young  man,1  who  has  been  deprived  of  sight  from  infancy  ; 


1  M.  Trenched,  a  graduate  of  the  School  of  Paris,  founded  by 
the  Abbe  Haiiy,  but  soon  accepted  as  a  national  school  and  asylum 
for  the  blind.  See  what  Dr.  Howe  says  of  this  institution,  here 
after. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  127 

and  who  is  now  engaged  as  a  tutor  in  the  school.  He  is  only 
twenty-one ;  but,  as  Dr.  Howe  informed  me,  has  a  most 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  exact  sciences.  Although  so 
recently  from  France,  and  having  before  he  came  no  knowledge 
of  our  language,  he  is  now  familiar  with  its  "ordinary  expres 
sions,  and  found  no  difficulty  in  communicating  with  his  visit 
ors.  "  If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  shall  they  not  both  fall  into 
the  ditch  ?  "  is  certainly  not  applicable  to  the  progress  which 
his  pupils  have  made  since  they  have  been  under  his  care.  The 
whole  exhibition  was  singularly  interesting.  I  saw  enough  to 
satisfy  me  that  much  can  be  done  to  relieve  the  situation  of  the 
blind,  to  fit  them  for  usefulness,  and  add  to  their  enjoyments. 
The  efforts  of  the  members  of  this  society  deserve  the  acknowl 
edgments  of  their  fellow-citizens;  and  especially  are  the  phil 
anthropy  and  benevolence  of  Dr.  Howe  worthy  of  renewed 
admiration. 

DR.    HOWE'S    MODEL    AND    WARNING. 

It  will  be  evident  from  the  above  description 
(which  is  the  earliest  I  can  find,  and  somewhat  prior 
to  the  account  already  cited  by  Miss  Peabody)  that 
the  young  director  took  the  Paris  school  for  his 
model,  in  outward  exercises,  but  that  it  had  taught 
him  what  to  avoid  in  other  respects.  This  will  appear 
further,  from  his  own  report  on  the  Paris  school, 
made  to  the  Trustees  of  the  New  England  Asylum 
in  the  Autumn  of  1832,  soon  after  his  return  from 
France.  He  then  said  : 

Those  institutions  which  are  founded  and  supported  by  the 
Government  labor  under  many  disadvantages  necessarily 
attendant  upen  such  a  connection ;  and  it  may  be  said,  without 
injustice  to  the  persons  employed,  that  they  are  obliged  to  fol 
low  such  a  system,  and  make  such  exhibitions,  as  will  redound 
rather  to  the  glory  of  the  State  than  the  good  of  the  pupils. 


123  PR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Hence  so  much  of  useless  parade  and  show ;  hence  so  much 
time  and  patience  spent  upon  learning  to  perform  surprising 
but  useless  things.  Those  on  the  other  hand,  which  are  kept 
up  by  individual  effort  and  public  benevolence,  fall  into  the 
error  of  considering  their  pupils  too  much  as  objects  of  charity, 
and  of  petting  and  caressing  them  too  much.  The  Institution 
for  the  Education  of  the  Blind  at  Paris,  as  it  is  the  oldest  in 
Europe,  and  as  there  is  about  it  more  of  show  and  parade  than 
in  any  other,  has  also  the  reputation  of  being  the  best ;  but  if 
one  judges  the  tree  by  its  fruit,  and  not  by  its  flowers  and 
foliage,  this  will  not  be  his  conclusion. 

Its  founder,  and  the  great  benefactor  of  the  blind,  the  Abbe 
Haiiy,1  invented  and  put  into  practice  many  contrivances  for 
the  education  of  the  blind  ;  and  otherwise  rendered  the  institu 
tion  excellent  for  the  age,  and  the  time  it  has  existed  ;  but  as 
he  left  it  so  it  has  since  remained.  It  receives,  supports,  and 
educates  about  a  hundred  blind  youths  ;  and,  there  being  no 
other  in  France,  it  follows  that  there  are  only  one  in  three  hun 
dred  of  the  French  blind  who  receive  an  education.  The  great 
fault  in  the  Parisian  institution  is,  the  diversity  of  employment 
to  which  the  pupils  are  put ;  and  the  effort  made  to  enable 
them  to  perform  surprising  but  useless  tricks.  The  same 
degree  of  intellectual  education  is  given  to  all,  without  refer 
ence  to  their  destination  in  life  ;  and  a  poor  boy,  who  is  to  get 
his  livelihood  by  weaving  or  whip-making,  is  as  well  instructed 
in  mathematics  and  polite  literature,  as  he  who  is  to  pursue  a 
literary  career.  Now  there  is  no  reason  why  a  shoemaker,  or  a 
basket-maker  should  not  be  well  educated,  provided  he  can 
learn  his  profession  thoroughly,  and  find  the  necessary  leisure 
to  study.  But  if  this  would  be  difficult  for  a  seeing  person,  how 
much  more  it  is  so  for  a  blind  one,  who  to  attain  any  degree 
of  excellence  in  a  trade,  must  apply  himself  most  intensely  and 
most  patiently!  The  necessity  of  this  is  made  apparent  by  the 
situation  of  those  youths  who  have  come  out  from  this  institu- 


1  This  was  Valentine  Haiiy  ;  his  brother  was  the  discoverer  in 
crystallization.    Both  died  in  1822. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  I2Q 

tion  at  the  end  of  the  seven  years  passed  there.  They  have 
devoted  five  hours  a  day  to  mechanical  employments,  but  to  so 
many  different  ones,  that  they  know  but  little  of  any.  Weaving, 
whip-making',  mat  and  net  making,  spinning,  etc.,  etc.,  have  so 
effectually  divided  their  attention,  that,  at  the  end  of  the  year 
devoted  to  learning  the  one,  they  have  almost  entirely  forgotten 
that  which  they  acquired  the  year  before. 

It  is  plain  that  here  was  an  original  thinker  let 
loose  among  the  instructors  of  the  blind,  of  whom 
then,  in  the  whole  world,  there  were  but  few.  Noth 
ing  whatever  had  been  done  for  their  instruction 
(although  the  deaf  had  long  been  taught  in  Spain,  in 
Germany,  and  even  in  France)  until  about  1790. 
Then  the  humane  Abbe  Haiiy  undertook  to  educate 
some  blind  children  in  his  own  house,  and  his  success 
was  so  great  that  the  Government  of  France 
employed  him  to  establish  an  institution  in  Paris. 
This  he  did,  and  made  it  so  interesting  an  object 
that  he  was  called  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  St. 
Petersburg  for  a  similar  purpose  ;  and,  after  success 
fully  putting  his  system  into  operation  there,  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  school  for  the  blind  at  Berlin. 
He  had  before  invented  the  method  of  printing  in 
raised  characters,  he  also  constructed  maps,  musical 
notes,  etc.,  but  left  the  subject  in  a  very  imperfect 
state  at  his  death  in  1-822  ;  and  his  successor  had 
accomplished  little.  Similar  institutions  were  founded, 
and  Dr.  Howe  saw  them  in  successful  operation  at 
Amsterdam,  Vienna,  Dresden,  London,  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  Liverpool,  and  other  places.  The  summary 
of  his  verdict  concerning  them  was  thus  given  by 
Dr.  Howe  in  1832  : 

"  The  European  institutions  for  the  education  of 


130  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  blind  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  ;  those 
established  and  supported  by  the  governments,  and 
those  which  owe  their  foundation  and  support  to  the 
charitable  efforts  of  individuals  ;  the  latter  are  by  far 
more  useful  than  the  former.  There  can  be  no  more 
delightful  spectacle  than  is  presented  by  these  estab 
lishments,  where  you  can  see  a  hundred  young  blind 
persons,  changed  from  listless,  inactive,  helpless 
beings,  into  intelligent,  active,  and  happy  ones  ;  they 
run  about,  and  pursue  their  different  kinds  of  work 
with  eager  industry  and  surprising  success  ;  when 
engaged  in  intellectual  pursuits,  the  awakened  mind 
is  painted  in  their  intelligent  countenances  ;  and 
when  the  whole  unite  in  sacred  music,  there  is  a  dis 
play  of  deep  interest,  of  fervid  zeal,  and  animating 
enthusiasm,  which  I  have  never  seen  equaled.  The 
proposed  end  of  these  different  institutions  is  to  give 
the  blind  the  means  of  supporting  themselves ; 
and  this  is  effected  with  different  degrees  of  success. 
I  visited  all  the  principal  institutions  for  the  educa 
tion  of  the  blind  in  Europe,  and  found  in  all  much  to 
admire  and  to  copy,  but  much  also  to  avoid." 

The  new  Boston  school  did,  in  fact,  begin  at  once 
to  improve  on  its  European  models,  so  that  Horace 
Mann  could  truthfully  say,  ten  years  later  (1843) 
when  he  visited  most  of  the  schools  for  the  blind  in 
Europe,  that  he  found  none  so  good  as  Dr.  Howe's, 
and  only  one,  at  Amsterdam,  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  it.  The  Boston  trustees  in  1834  spoke  of  these 
improvements  thus  :  "  As  one  instance,  they  would 
refer  to  the  map  at  the  end  of  this  pamphlet,  which 
is  on  a  plan  entirely  new,  and  unknown  in  Europe. 
There  the  maps  are  made  with  infinite  pains  and 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  13! 

expense  by  glueing  strings  on  to  another  map  pasted 
on  a  board  ;  besides  the  great  expense  and  necessary 
clumsiness  of  which,  these  do  not  admit  of  the  divi 
sions  and  lettering,  which  are  here  introduced.  A 
map  of  this  size  would  cost  at  Paris  and  Edinburgh 
five  dollars  ;  it  would  weigh  three  or  four  pounds, 
and  not  have  half  so  many  distinctions  as  this,  which 
costs  less  than  one-hundredth  part  of  that  sum." 
This  new  style  of  map  was  Dr.  Howe's  own  invention, 
and  he  presently  devised  a  new  character  for  cheapen 
ing  the  printing,  which  the  blind  so  much  needed. 
Concerning  this  invention  Dr.  Howe  thus  spoke,  six 
years  later,  when  it  had  come  into  common  use,  but 
was  criticised  here  and  there,  as  every  useful  inven 
tion  is,  by  the  envious,  the  self-interested,  the 
inattentive,  or  those  who  simply  and  honestly  are 
averse  to  any  change.  He  said  in  his  report  for  1839  : 

It  will  be  recollected  by  those  gentlemen  who  were  Trustees 
in  1833,  the  first  year  of  the  operation  of  our  institution,  that 
though  our  pupils  succeeded  in  learning  to  read,  the  success 
seemed  little  worth,  because  there  were  but  three  books  in 
the  school.  These  were,  a  book  of  extracts  from  English 
authors,  published  in  Paris  ;  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  printed  at 
Edinburgh,  and  one  small  volume  from  the  same  place.  These 
were  all  the  reading  books  for  the  blind  then  in  existence  in 
the  English  language  ;  there  was  also  a  collection  of  math 
ematical  diagrams,  executed  at  York,  in  England,  and  these 
made  up  the  whole  library  of  the  blind.  It  was  obvious  that 
more  books  should  be  printed,  but  the  first  object  seemed  to 
be,  to  find  a  method  which  would  diminish  their  bulk  and 
expense  ;  for,  if  the  French,  the  Scotch,  or  the  German  meth 
ods  had  been  followed,  a  volume,  like  the  New  Testament, 
would  have  formed  twelve  ponderous  folios. 

After  hesitating  a  long  time,  whether  to  use  a  new  phonetic 


132  DR.    S.    G.    HO\VE.  ' 

alphabet  or  a  series  of  stenographic  characters,  or  the 
mon  alphabet,  I  adopted  the  latter;  not,  however,  without 
adhering  to  the  opinion  that  one  of  the  others  must  event 
ually  be  us'ecl  in  printing  for  the  blind.  Having  decided  to 
use  the  common  alphabet,  slightly  varied,  I  endeavored  to 
reduce  the  bulk  of  each  letter  to  the  minimum  size  which  the 
blind  could  feel.  With  this  view  all  the  unnecessary  points, 
all  the  mere  ornamental  flourishes,  were  cut  off ;  the  inter 
linear  space  was  reduced  by  making  the  bottom  of  the  line 
straight ;  that  is,  carrying  up  such  letters  as  g,  p,  etc.,  which 
run  below  the  bottom  of  the  line.  The  bulk  was  further 
reduced  by  using  a  thin  paper  expressly  prepared,  and  by 
reducing  the  height  of  the  face  of  the  type.  In  this  way  it 
was  found  the  books  might  be  very  much  reduced  in  size,  so 
that  the  New  Testament  could  be  printed  in  two  volumes — 
not  more  bulky  than  the  French — of  which  twelve  at  least 
would  have  been  necessary  to  contain  the  whole  Testament. 

Having  ascertained,  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  any 
blind  child  of  common  capacity  could  easily  read  this  print,  I 
commenced  printing ;  and  as  the  funds  of  the  institution  were 
small,  I  resolved  not  to  ask  any  aid  from  the  treasury,  but 
appeal  to  the  benevolent  here  and  abroad.  This  appeal  was 
not  in  vain  ;  generous  aid  flowed  in,  and  the  press  was  put  into 
active  operation.  All  the  money  raised  was  put  at  once  into 
the  treasury,  and  only  drawn  out  upon  exhibition  of  proper 
vouchers  for  expenses.  The  cost  of  apparatus,  paper,  etc.,  has 
been,  up  to  this  date,  about  $8,000.  One  of  the  first  objects 
was,  to  print  the  New  Testament,  which  had  never  been  done 
in  any  language.  This  was  soon  effected  ;  then  followed  the 
book  of  Psalms,  and  successively  twenty-one  editions  of  books. 

Dr.  Howe  at  that  time  attached  great  importance 
to  the  work  of  placing  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the 
blind.  He  had  already  urged  this  on  his  trustees  and 
the  public  in  these  words  : 

The  advantage,  nay  the  necessity,  of  printing  the  Gospel  in 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  133 

raised  letters  for  the  use  of  the  blind  will  be  apparent  to  every 
thinking  Christian.  Here  is  a  large  number  of  our  fellow 
creatures  within  our  reach,  who  might  be  supplied  with  the 
New  Testament  at  small  expense,  compared  with  that  laid  out 
in  sending  it  among  distant  heathens.  It  may  be  said  indeed, 
that  the  blind  can  hear  the  Bible  read  by  their  friends,  while 
the  heathen  cannot  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  let  one  consider 
what  a  precious  treasure  a  copy  of  the  Testament  in  raised 
letters  would  be  to  a  blind  man ;  he  would  pore  over  it,  read 
and  re-read  it,  until  every  word  became  familiar ;  and  how 
much  greater  probability  there  would  be  of  its  producing  a 
good  effect  than  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  a  thousand 
other  things  to  occupy  their  thoughts.  Then  too,  let  one  con 
sider  the  all-important  nature  of  the  study ;  and  how  jealous 
one  should  be  of  trusting  to  aught  but  the  cool  decision  of  his 
own  reason.  In  fine,  let  any  pious  Christian  put  the  case  to 
himself  and  say,  whether  he  could  be  content  with  having  the 
Scriptures  read  by  another  ;  whether  he  could  abstain  from 
feasting  his  eyes  on  God's  sacred  pages  ;  or  refrain  from  shut 
ting  himself  up  in  his  closet  with  his  Maker,  and  His  revealed 
Word.  What  his  eyes  are  to  him,  the  fingers  are  to  the  man 
deprived  of  sight,  and  to  the  one  equally  as  to  the  other,  is  sol 
itary  reading  and  reflection  a  useful  and  healthful  exercise. 

Nor  to  the  blind  alone  would  the  Scriptures  printed  in  raised 
letters  be  a  precious  treasure ;  there  are  many  people  who 
from  weakness  or  temporary  derangement  of  the  organs  ot 
sight,  would  be  happy  to  spare  their  eyes  and  read  with  their 
fingers.  The  acquisition  of  this  faculty  is  not  at  all  difficult, 
any  person  may  in  three  or  four  days  enable  himself  to  feel  out 
very  easily  the  raised  letters,  and  read  pretty  fast.  I  mentioned 
in  a  letter  from  Europe  to  your  sub-committee  a  plan  which  I 
had  conceived  of  publishing  one  of  the  Evangelists  in  raised 
characters  ;  without  now  detailing  all  the  methods  which  I 
would  substitute  for  those  hitherto  used,  I  may  say,  that  it  is 
founded  upon  the  only  principle  which  can  possibly  obviate  the 
immense  inconvenience  of  bulk  and  expense,  viz.,  that  of  con 
traction  or  stenography  ;  a  principle  which,  if  acted  up  to  may 


134  DR-    S.    G.    HOWE. 

I  am  convinced,  render  books  for  the  blind  as  cheap  and  as 
compact  as  those  printed  for  our  use.  Whether  this  system 
shall  substitute  tangible  for  the  visible  forms  of  letters,  or 
whether  the  symbols  shall  represent  sounds,  is  a  secondary 
question. 

This  last  remark  hints  at  a  plan  which  was  never 
carried  out,  and  which  Dr.  Howe  afterwards  gave  up. 
In  his  report  for  1839,  he  goes  on  to  defend  his  work 
from  some  criticism  : 

"  I  desire  only  the  multiplication  of  books  for  the  blind  ;  and 
let  the  character  be  what  it  may,  I  have  no  fears  about  my 
pupils  being  able  to  read  it,  provided  the  impression  is  firm  and 
clear.  I  hail  with  pleasure  the  announcement  of  every  new 
work  in  raised  letters,  and  care  not  who  gets  the  credit,  so  that 
the  blind  get  the  books.  It  is  with  much  reluctance,  that  I 
have  spoken  of  my  share  in  this  enterprise,  and  especially  that 
I  have  instituted  any  comparison  between  my  method  and  that 
of  others;  but  called  upon  as  I  have  been  to  conform  with 
others,  I  felt  bound  to  show  my  reasons  for  not  doing  so.  I  am 
not  aware  of  being  influenced  by  any  partiality  for  my  own  sys 
tem  ;  certainly  I  have  not  said  so  much  in  its  favor  as  our 
pupils  would ;  for  I  am  certain  that  they,  and  scores  of  other 
blind  persons,  who  compare  our  books  with  those  in  the  new 
Scotch  type,  give  them  a  decided  preference.  This  is  certain, 
that  when  audiences  in  England  and  Scotland  were  uttering  by 
shouts  their  astonishment  and  pleasure,  that  blind  children 
could  read  books  in  raised  letters,  it  had  ceased  altogether 
to  be  a  matter  of  surprise  in  this  country,  so  common  had 
it  become.  Nay,  long  before  the  exhibitions  were  got 
up  in  Glasgow,  and  elsewhere,  many  blind  persons  in  this 
country  had  learned  to  read  our  books  alone,  and  far  distant 
from  any  school. 

The  philosophy  of  this  subject  has  been  overlooked  by  many, 
who  have  lately  taken  so  much  interest  in  it.  They  first  con 
trive  an  alphabet,  then  find  a  blind  child,  and  if  he  succeeds  in 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  135 

learning  it  they  cry  out  eureka !  and  consider  it  evidence 
enough  of  the  superiority  of  the  system.  But,  in  reality,  a 
blind  child  will  learn  to  read  upon  a  very  bad  system,  as  seeing 
children  learn  geography,  grammar,  etc.,  in  spite  of  very  bad 
methods  of  instruction. 

With  these  remarks  in  defence  of  a  system  to  which  I  shall 
continue  to  adhere,  until  a  better  one  shall  be  found,  I  leave  the 
subject.  My  endeavor  shall  be,  as  it  has  been,  to  give  the 
blind  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  reading  matter  in  the 
smallest  possible  space,  and  at  the  least  possible  expense  ;  as 
yet,  no  system  does  this  so  effectually  as  ours  can  ;  but  when 
one  is  brought  forward,  I  will  adopt  it.  If,  by  the  aid  and 
encouragement  of  the  humane,  our  printing-press  is  allowed  to 
continue  in  operation,  I  doubt  not  wre  shall  soon  be  able  to 
present  works  of  the  size  of  the  New  Testament,  in  one  com 
pact  and  convenient  volume. 

It  was  in  the  years  1835-36  that  these  great  advan 
ces  in  the  printing  of  books  for  the  blind  were  made 
by  Dr.  Howe,  and  they  continued  for  a  long-  time. 
He  was  aided  in  them  by  an  ingenious  New  England 
mechanic,  Stephen  P.  Ruggles,  a  man  of  Yankee 
inventiveness,  but  without  the  generosity  of  nature 
which  was  so  conspicuous  in  Dr.  Howe.  This  defect 
led  him  afterwards  to  quarrel  with  Dr.  Howe,  as  he 
did,  first  and  last,  with  almost  all  his  friends,  but  he 
deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  very  useful  in  his  own 
way.  The  trustees  in  1836  spoke  thus  : 

We  cannot  quit  the  subject,  without  a  just  tribute  to  the 
indefatigable  exertions  of  the  Director,  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe,  who 
continues  to  devote  himself  to  the  pupils,  and  the  general  inter 
ests  of  the  Institution,  with  the  same  fidelity  and  zeal  which 
he  has  exhibited  since  its  foundation.  In  the  course  of  the 
year,  in  addition  to  his  regular  labors,  he  has  made  important 
improvements  in  the  system  of  printing  for  the  blind.  By  his 


136  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

own  exertions  he  has  raised  funds  for  erecting  a  complete 
press,  constructed  on  a  novel  and  very  ingenious  plan,  by  Mr. 
S.  P.  Ruggles.  Several  books  compiled  by  Dr.  Howe  himself, 
and  accommodated  to  the  wants  of  the  blind,  have  been  already 
printed. 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  improved  formation  and 
arrangement  of  the  characters  by  Dr.  Howe,  enable  us  to  give 
the  same  quantity  of  matter  in  volumes  of  half  the  bulk 
formerly  required,  and  at  one-fourth  the  expense,  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  these  improvements  will  be  of  general 
application  and  use  in  sister  institutions,  both  in  our  own  coun 
try  and  Europe. 

Mrs.  Howe,  writing  in  1876,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  had  this  to  say  about  his  Bible-printing  and 
other  undertakings  to  give  the  blind  a  library  of 
their  own. 

Dr.  Howe  considered  the  multiplication  of  works  specially 
printed  for  the  blind  an  object  of  great  importance,  as  increas- 
ng  their  resources  and  their  opportunities  for  independent 
study  and  culture.  He  spared  no  effort  to  this  end,  keeping  it 
always  before  the  eyes  of  the  community  in  his  reports,  while 
he  at  the  same  time  neglected  no  opportunity  of  bringing  so 
pressing  a  want  to  the  notice  of  wealthy  and  benevolent  indi 
viduals.  The  annals  of  his  institution  will  show  that  his  efforts, 
though  not  entirely  attaining  the  desired  result,  were  yet  in  a 
great  measure  successful.  In  1835  he  was  able  to  present  the 
American  Bible  Society  with  a  specimen  of  Bible-printing,  in 
which  the  bulk  heretofore  required  was  diminished  one-half.  In 
the  same  year  he  wrote  an  eloquent  letter  to  the  Directors  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  asking  for  such  an  appropriation  from 
their  funds  as  would  enable  him  to  print  the  whole  Bible  in 
raised  type.  Two  hundred  dollars  had  already  been  obtained, 
in  answer  to  an  appeal  made  by  Dr.  Howe  before  the  congre 
gation  of  Park  Street  church.  The  Massachusetts  Bible  Society 
added  another  contribution  of  one  thousand  dollars,  The  New 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  137 

York  Female  Bible  Society  gave  eight  hundred  dollars,  and  the 
American  Bible  Society  one  thousand.  This  sum  of  money 
enabled  Dr.  Howe  to  print  the  New  Testament  in  raised  letters 
— a  service  which  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  many  blind  per 
sons  desirous  of  possessing  and  reading  the  book.  Six  years 
later  the  Managers  of  the  American  Bible  Society  took  the 
necessary  steps  for  completing  the  printing  of  the  entire  Bible 
in  the  same  type,  the  plates  for  the  whole  work  costing  some 
$13,000. 

In  respect  to  other  works  the  catalogue  of  books  printed  at 
the  Massachusetts  Asylum  attests  the  labor  bestowed  upon 
this  object  by  its  principal.  It  includes  Milton's  "  Paradise 
Lost  "  and  "  Regained,"  an  encyclopedia  of  his  own  compiling, 
Shakespeare's  "  Hamlet "  and  "  Julius  Caesar,"  histories  of 
England  and  the  United  States,  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and 
selections  from  the  writings  of  Pope,  Baxter,  Swedenborg,  and 
Byron.  In  the  last  report  written  by  his  hand,  he  mentions 
the  noble  donation  of  Mr.  Dickens  of  a  sum  of  money  which 
enabled  the  institution  to  print  a  small  edition  of  the  "  Old 
Curiosity  Shop  "  for  the  use  of  the  blind.  Laura  Bridgman 
once  spoke  to  me  with  vivacity  of  the  pleasure  with  which  she 
had  perused  this  work. 

Dr.  Howe's  son-in-law  and  successor  has  nobly  car 
ried  forward,  and  at  much  competition,  this  task  of 
supplying  the  adult  blind  with  books,  and  the  col 
lection  is  now  much  larger  than  in  1876.  But  this 
whole  industry  grew  out  of  the  zeal  and  devotion  of 
Dr.  Howe,  while  still  a  young  man,  in  the  early  years 
of  his  work  at  the  Blind  Asylum. 

The  speed  with  which  this  infant  enterprise  ad 
vanced  from  its  humble  beginning  in  the  house  of 
Dr.  Howe's  father  on  Pleasant  street,  to  the  rank  of 
a  New  England  or,  indeed,  an  American  institution, 
cannot  better  be  shown  than  by  quoting  from  the 
report  of  the  trustees  in  1834 — a  little  more  than 


138  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

two  years  after  Dr.  Howe  was  cast  into  the  dungeon 
of  the  Prussian  king  in  Berlin.  Colonel  Perkins  had 
given  his  Pearl  street  mansion,  the  fund  of  $50,000 
had  been  raised,  and  the  financial  future  of  the  school 
seemed  assured.  The  same  extract  will  give  the 
weekly  routine  at  this  new  establishment. 

When,  a  twelvemonth  ago,  we  undertook  the  management 
of  its  affairs,  it  was  unknown  to  the  public  ;  a  doubtful  experi 
ment  on  the  feasibility  of  educating  six  poor  blind  children 
was  in  operation  ;  the  appropriation  by  the  State  was  insuffi 
cient  for  their  support ;  the  subscriptions  were  nearly  exhausted, 
and,  within  one  month  from  our  appointment,  we  found  the 
institution  to  be  absolutely  in  debt.  Now  the  scene  is  entirely 
changed  ;  the  institution  has  attracted  public  notice,  and  gained 
public  favor;  it  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberal  patronage  from 
this  and  the  surrounding  States  ;  it  possesses  a  considerable  fund 
of  property  :  its  five  and  thirty  happy  inmates  inhabit  a  splen 
did  and  airy  mansion,  with  extensive  grounds,  and  everything 
necessary  fer  their  health,  comfort,  and  education  ;  and  prep 
arations  are  made  for  the  reception  of  as  many  more. 

In  order  to  accommodate  a  large  number  of  pupils,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  some  alterations  in  the  premises  in  Pearl 
street;  and,  the  stables  being  of  brick  and  built  in  the  best 
manner,  it  was  concluded  to  convert  them  into  school-rooms 
and  work-shops.  It  was  also  necessary  to  provide  a  large 
play-ground  ;  and  the  estate  in  the  rear  of  the  mansion  house, 
and  fronting  on  Atkinson  street,  was  purchased  for  the  sum  of 
fourteen  thousand  dollars  ;  and  thus  the  institution  became 
owners  of  the  whole  square  from  Pearl  to  Atkinson  street.  All 
the  arrangements  having  been  made,  and  the  estate  on  Atkin 
son  street  having  been  laid  out  as  a  play -ground,  the  inmates 
took  possession  in  September,  1833,  and  the  institution  was 
advertised  as  ready  for  the  reception  of  pupils  from  all  parts 
of  the  country.  Since  that  time,  the  number  has  gradually 
increased,  and  many  more  are  expected ;  the  whole  number 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  139 

admitted  has  been  thirty-eight ;  the  actual  number  is  thirty- 
four  ;  one  having  left  voluntarily,  two  having  been  discharged 
on  account  of  illness,  and  one,  from  a  neighboring  State,  dis 
charged  for  want  of  funds  for  his  support. 

There  are  now  twenty-four  from  Massachusetts,  four  from 
New  Hampshire,  two  from  Connecticut,  one  from  Rhode  Island, 
one  from  New  York,  one  from  Ohio,  and  one  from  Virginia. 
Three  of  the  pupils  from  this  State  are  beyond  the  age  stipu- 
Isted  in  the  act  of  incorporation,  at  which  the  Governor  may 
send  pupils  by  his  warrant ;  one  of  these  pays  her  own  ex 
penses,  the  other  two  are  at  the  charge  of  the  institution,  as  is 
also  one  from  the  State  of  Ohio.  It  will  be  seen  that  more 
pupils  have  been  received  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
than  was  strictly  required  hy  the  terms  of  the  grant ;  we  have, 
however,  considered  it  our  duty  rather  to  extend  the  advan 
tages  of  the  institution  to  as  many  pupils  as  possible,  than  to 
accumulate  funds. 

On  the  Sabbath  all  the  pupils  are  required  to  attend  church ; 
the  rule  of  the  institution  is,  that  each  pupil  may  worship  at 
whatever  church  he,  or  his  parents,  may  select ;  but  in  case 
any  other  is  selected  than  the  one  at  which  the  majority  at 
tend  (at  present  the  Park  Street  Church)  the  pupil  must  furnish 
his  own  guide.  It  is  desirable  that  the  most  perfect  freedom 
in  regard  to  religious  matters  should  be  enjoyed  by  the  pupils  ; 
but  it  would  be  very  inconvenient  for  the  institution  to  provide 
guides  for  each  one  ;  therefore  this  rule  has  been  adopted. 
With  respect  to  the  religious  services  in  the  interior  of  the 
establishment,  they  consist  of  the  reading  daily  of  the  Scriptures 
without  any  comment,  and  the  Episcopal  form  of  prayer,  be 
sides  a  weekly  meeting  for  reading  and  explanation  of  the 
Scriptures,  at  which  the  attendance  is  voluntary. 

In  this  liberal  way  was  this  school  opened — not 
only  a  school,  but  a  printing-house,  a  training  place 
for  teachers,  and  a  center  for  missionary  effort  in  the 
instruction  of  the  blind  throughout  the  country  and 


140  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

all  over  the  world.  It  was  not  long  before  Dr.  Howe 
had  repaid  whatever  debt  he  owed  to  the  example  of 
the  older  schools  in,  Europe  ;  nor  did  he  ever  cease  to 
advance  the  cause  committed  to  him  from  any  timid 
fear  that  the  money  he  might  need  would  be  with 
held.  Like  Agassiz,  in  after  years,  he  found  that  men 
were  always  willing  to  give  for  his  enterprises.  In 
1837  the  trustees  said  : 

We  have  never  allowed  ourselves  to  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  the  'generous  inhabitants  of  New  England  would  suffer 
their  blind  to  remain  in  intellectual  darkness,  after  it  had  been 
satisfactorily  demonstrated  that  they  could  be  enlightened  and 
made  happy.  We  have  endeavored  to  build  up  an  institution 
equal,  if  not  superior,  in  the  advantages  it  offers  its  pupils,  to  the 
oldest  and  most  renowned  of  the  great  European  capitals ;  we 
believe  we  have  succeeded  ;  and  we  believe,  too,  that  there  is 
as  good  a  guarantee  for  its  continuance  and  prosperity  in  the 
free  and  hearty  support  of  a  New  England  community,  as  those 
of  Paris  and  Vienna  have,  in  the  munificence  of  royalty.  We 
have  ever  endeavored,  however,  to  be  strictly  economical ;  we 
have  lavished  nothing  on  show  and  parade  ;  but,  we  have 
thought  that  the  best  system  was  the  most  truly  economical, 
and  when  a  question  has  occurred  as  to  the  adoption  of  one  of 
two  methods  of  procedure,  we  have  asked,  not  which  is  the 
cheapest,  but  which  is  the  best,  and  most  for  the  true  interest 
of  our  pupils.  Nor  have  we  confined  our  efforts  to  the  blind  of 
our  own  section  of  the  country  ;  we  have  endeavored  to  extend 
the  knowledge  and  benefits  of  the  system  of  educating  them  as 
widely  as  possible.  With  the  excellent  institutions  growing  up 
in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  we  have  been  on  the  best  terms  ; 
and  so  common  has  been  the  cause,  that,  at  the  present  time,  a 
blind  person,  a  pupil  educated  here,  is  acting  as  teacher  in  one 
of  them,  to  supply  a  temporary  vacancy. 

With  the  same  view  to  general  usefulness,  we  were  happy  to 
have  our  Director  accept  the  invitation  of  a  committee  of  the 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  14! 

Legislature  of  Ohio,  and  visit  that  State  with  three  of  our 
pupils.  The  results  of  that  visit,  and  an  exhibition  of  the 
acquirements  of  the  children  to  the  Legislature,  and  the  most 
influential  persons  in  the  State,  were  very  satisfactory.  It  was 
ascertained  that  there  were  500  blind  persons  in  that  State,  and 
about  60  of  them  at  a  proper  age  for  instruction  ;  and  such  was 
the  interest  excited,  and  so  thorough  the  conviction  of  the  pos 
sibility  of  educating  the  blind,  that  we  have  every  reason  to 
suppose  that  an  institution  similar  to  our  own  will  be  organ 
ized  there  in  a  very  short  time. 

Such,  indeed,  was  the  outcome  of  Dr.  Howe's  visit 
to  Ohio  ;  and,  wherever  he  went,  he  found  ready 
hearers,  and  those  easily  persuaded  to  do  what  he 
advised.  One  secret  of  this  success  was  his  genius, 
which  took  the  practical  form  of  persuading  men  to 
be  philanthropic,  as  he  was  ;  another  was  his  entire 
devotion  to  the  cause  he  advocated,  without  thought 
of  pushing  his  own  selfish  interests.  He  was  never 
very  gifted  as  an  orator  ;  had  never  trained  himself 
to  the  art  of  public-speaking,  as  Phillips  did  and 
Dana  and  Hillard  and  others  of  his  younger  contem 
poraries  ;  but  he  had  the  natural  language  which 
flows  from  the  heart  and  reaches  the  heart.  Occa 
sionally  in  these  years  he  lectured  ;  and  from  a  lec 
ture  of  his,  given  in  Boston  in  1836  I  take  these  pas 
sages  : 

People  generally  imagine  it  must  be  very  difficult  to  teach 
the  blind  ;  but  they  are  wrong.  To  teach  the  blind,  is  the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world.  And  I  will  venture  to  say,  that  a 
class  of  blind  children,  from  the  Blind  Instituion  in  this  city, 
will  learn  as  much,  in  a  given  time,  of  history,  geography, 
astronomy,  or  the  languages,  as  any  class  that  could  be  selected 
from  the  high  schools  and  academies ;  and  that,  of  mathema- 


142  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

tics  and  music,  they  will  learn  more.  To  teach  the  blind  is  easy, 
• — to  educate  them  is  altogether  another  matter. 

A  comparison  is  sometimes  drawn  between  the  situation  and 
instruction  of  deaf-mutes  and  the  blind ;  but  there  is  no  other 
resemblance,  than  that  the  modus  operandi  is  different  from  the 
one  pursued  with  seeing  children.  The  advantages  are  alto 
gether  on  the  side  of  the  blind  ;  for  the  deaf-mutes,  a  language 
is  to  be  invented  ;  and  when  it  is  invented,  perfected,  and 
learned,  how  inadequate  is  it  to  the  full  and  free  communica 
tion  of  ideas  !  But  with  the  blind,  there  is  no  such  obstacle — 
the  medium  is  a  common  one,  and  we  have  the  most  free  and 
illimitable  interchange  of  thought  and  feeling.  The  moral  and 
religious  feelings  of  the  deaf-mutes  are  generally  dormant  when 
they  enter  institutions  for  their  education;  while  the  blind  differ 
not  from  seeing  people,  and  partake  of  the  stamp  of  those  with 
whom  they  have  associated. 

If  you  wish  to  teach  a  deaf-mute  geography,  for  instance,  you 
must  first  teach  him  language.  With  a  blind  boy,  you  have 
only  to  begin  to  describe  the  country ;  you  give  him  his  lesson 
orally,  instead  of  his  reading  and  studying  in  a  book.  You 
teach  a  blind  boy  in  the  same  way  you  would  teach  a  seeing 
boy — except  that  you  read  or  lecture  to  the  blind  boy,  while 
you  let  the  seeing  boy  read  for  himself.  The  only  difference  is 
in  the  artificial  aids, — books,  maps,  diagrams,  slates,  etc — and 
these  are  small  matters.  You  have  only  to  imagine  that  all 
your  books,  maps,  slates,  etc.,  were  taken  from  your  school,  the 
room  darkened,  and  you  required  to  keep  on  teaching  your 
scholars ;  you  will  then  conceive,  at  once,  how  the  blind  are 
taught.  If  you  wish  to  inform  them  the  difference  between  an 
acute  and  an  obtuse  angle,  and  fail  to  do  so  by  words,  you 
would  mark  it  upon  the  palms  of  their  hands,  or  you  would 
have  the  figure  stamped  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  give  it  to 
them  to  feel.  Now,  what  you  would  do  with  your  scholars  in 
the  dark,  we  have  to  do  with  the  blind  in  the  light.  Such  is  the 
general  principle;  as  to  the  quo  mode,  it  is  of  less  conse 
quence. 

And  yet,  while  institutions  for  the  education  of  the  deaf  and 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  143 

dumb  have  long  been  established,  and  are  rapidly  increasing, 
those  for  the  blind  are  but  just  commencing.  Thank  God,  how 
ever,  the  work  has  commenced  ;  and  in  a  community  like  ours 
it  cannot  but  go  on.  Already  have  two  of  our  institutions 
placed  themselves  on  a  footing  with — nay,  I  may  safely  say,  in 
some  respects,  have  excelled — the  best  and  oldest  in  Europe  ; 
and  there  is  nothing  more  ardently  to  be  desired,  than  to  see 
them  multiplied  and  perfected.  It  is  but  four  years  since  the 
American  public  have  learned  that  the  blind  could  be  educated; 
it  is  but  four  years  since  a  call  has  been  made  upon  their  sym 
pathies  and  charities  in  behalf  of  this  interesting  class,  and  yet 
the  call  has  been  answered  promptly  and  generously.  The 
work  has  been  begun  with  zeal  and  resolution ;  more  progress 
has  been  made  here  than  in  the  last  twenty  years  elsewhere  ; 
and  there  is  now,  for  the  first  time,  a  rational  prospect  of  a 
select  and  valuable  library  being  soon  printed  for  the  blind. 
Already  has  the  best  of  books,  the  New  Testament,  been  fin 
ished,  of  which  only  short  extracts  had  been  printed  abroad  ; 
and  hope  says,  it  is  but  the  earnest  of  many  more.  That  our 
country  may  be  the  first  to  discharge  its  duty  to  those  who  are 
rendered  its  dependents  is  to  be  ardently  desired  by  every 
patriot  and  philanthropist. 

This  appeal  to  Americans,  from  pride  in  their 
country  was  naturally  made;  for  no  American  ever  felt 
more  deeply  the  love  of  country  than  this  Greek 
chevalier  who  had  spent  the  first  eight  years  of  his 
active  life  in  Europe.  Instead  of  contracting  that 
disgust  at  his  own  people,  which  is  one  of  the  results 
of  American  life  abroad  in  too  many  instances,  Dr. 
Howe  only  learned  to  value  more  highly  its  great 
privileges  of  freedom  and  equality.  And  few  Ameri 
cans  have  ever  done  more  to  reflect  credit  on  their 
country  than  he.  The  words  of  the  veteran,  Lafay 
ette,  in  1830,  when  Howe  was  by  his  side,  taking  part 
in  the  Revolution  of  July — "  Reserve  yourself  for  the 


144  DB.  s-  G-  HOWE. 

service  of  America,  young  friend  !  this  is  our  fight 
not  yours"  —  were  amply  fulfilled  in  after  years. 
When  Dr.  Howe  went  abroad  for  the  first  time  after 
his  Berlin  imprisonment,  he  found  that  he  was  known 
wherever  his  name  was  mentioned — not  only  in  Prus 
sia,  which  refused  him  access  to  her  frontiers,  and  in 
Greece  where  he  found  grateful  citizens,  but  in  Eng 
land,  in  France,  in  Germany,  and  in  Italy.  But 
what  had  contributed  more  than  all  things  else  to  his 
fame  was  his  teaching  Laura  Bridgman. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    WONDROUS    STORY    OF    LAURA    BRIDGMAN. 

DR.  HOWE  had  been  building  up  the  Blind  Asylum 
for  five  years,  and  had  fallen  in  with  many  cases  of 
deprivation  and  defective  natural  endowment,  which 
appealed  strongly  to  his  philanthropic  nature,  when 
he  by  good  fortune  met  with  an  instance  which 
attracted  his  attention  more  than  any  other,  and 
which  soon  began  to  draw  the  notice  of  the  world. 
This  was  the  New  Hampshire  child,  Laura  Bridgman, 
suffering  under  the  accumulated  loss  of  sight,  hear 
ing,  speech,  and  smell,  whom  he  was  destined  to 
restore  by  education  to  daily  communion  with  her 
fellow-creatures  and  thus  to  point  the  way  for  many 
improvements  in  the  instruction  of  the  deaf  as  well 
as  the  blind.  These  improvements  have  since  been 
made,  and  now  it  is  no  longer  marvelous,  though 
still  difficult,  to  teach  the  dumb  to  speak,  and  give 
those  who  are  both  blind  and  deaf  a  fair  chance,  by 
education,  in  the  world  which  they  cannot  see.  The 
pioneer  in  all  these  changes,  so  far  as  America  is  con 
cerned,  was  Dr.  Howe  ;  and  it  was  from  him  that 
Horace  Mann,  Gardiner  Hubbard,  Miss  Rogers,  and 
the  other  promoters  of  articulation  among  the  deaf 
in  the  United  States,  took  the  hint  which  they  each 
followed  up  with  more  or  less  result.  The  story  of 
Laura  Bridgman  then,  has  an  interest  apart  from  her 

(MS) 


146  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

own  moving  experiences  ;  and,  as  Dickens  has  said, 
it  can  never  be  told  without  exciting  admiration  for 
Dr.  Howe. 

The  summer  of  1837,  which  first  brought  Howe 
into  acquaintance  with  Charles  Sumner,  with  whom 
he  was  afterwards  so  intimate,  was  also  the  time 
when  he  first  heard  of  Laura  Bridgman.  He  met 
Sumner  for  the  first  time  June  n,  1837,  while  they 
were  both  defending  the  poor  Irish  residents  of 
Broad  Street,  Boston,  against  a  mob  who  were 
plundering  their  houses  and  assaulting  them.  Sum 
ner  was  knocked  down  in  the  fracas,  and  brought  off 
by  Howe,  who  then  learned  the  name  of  his  young 
coadjutor.  It  was  six  weeks  after  this  affair  (the 
"  Broad  Street  Riot")  that  Dr.  Howe,  in  company 
with  Sumner's  intimate  friends,  the  poet  Longfellow 
and  George  Hillard,  made  the  journey  from  Boston 
to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  the  seat  of  Dartmouth  College, 
where  Hillard  was  to  give  an  address  before  the 
learned  societies.  Rufus  Choate,  the  brilliant  lawyer, 
and  Samuel  Eliot  (a  cousin  of  President  Eliot  of 
Harvard  University),  then  a  young  collegian,  were  of 
the  same  party.  They  reached  Hanover  July  24, 
1837,  and  on  the  next  day  Hillard  was  to  deliver  his 
oration.  In  the  evening  they  went  to  a  musical  party 
at  Professor  R.  D.  Mussey's,  where  Dr.  Howe  must 
have  heard  of  Laura  and  her  misfortunes  from  Dr. 
Mussey  himself.  On  the  morning  of  July  25,  Dr. 
Howe,  always  an  early  riser,  was  up  betimes,  and 
away  over  the  hills  to  visit  the  poor  child  in  her 
father's  farmhouse.  He  found  her  there,  examined 
her  condition  professionally, x  questioned  her  parents 

1  She  was  then  7^  years  old. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  147 

concerning  her  health,  the  cause  of  her  blindness,  her 
habits,  etc.,  engaged  them  to  send  her  to  the  Boston 
Asylum  in  October,  and,  this  done,  returned  to 
breakfast  or  dine  with  his  companions,  who  wondered 
what  had  become  of  him,  and  to  hear  Hillard's  ora 
tion  in  the  afternoon.  From  Hanover  they  journeyed 
northeastward  through  the  White  Mountains,  and 
homeward  by  way  of  Portland. x  Howe  must  have 
studied  and  planned  through  this  summer  vacation 
how  to  approach  the  difficulties  before  him — which 
in  a  few  years  he  had  accomplished  with  unques 
tioned  success. 

Of  the  man  who  achieved  this  signal  success,  Mrs. 
Howe  says  :a 

When  Dr.  Howe  first  became  aware  of  Laura's  existence, 
the  double  calamity  of  blindness  and  deafness  had  rarely  been 
observed,  and  never  relieved  to  any  appreciable  extent.  The 
way  by  which  knowledge  from  without  should  make  entrance 
into  her  mind  was  as  yet  unexplored,  and  every  step  in  it  was 
purely  tentative.  The  man  whose  genius  led  him  to  confront 
this  difficult  problem  was  of  the  order  of  those  who  so  cor 
respond  to  the  needs  of  their  time  that  they  are  called  "  provi 
dential"  people.  Dr.  Howe's  generous  and  impulsive  youth 
had  led  him  to  take  part  in  the  desperate  stand  which  Chris 
tianity  in  the  East  made  against  the  barbarism  of  the  Turk, 
backed  by  the  diplomacy  of  Western  Europe.  He  was  now  in 


1  Sumner  writes  to  Longfellow  August  15  :  "I  was  glad  to  hear 
you  had  so  pleasant  a  time  in  the  White  Mountains.  Hillard 
returned  full  of  what  he  had  seen  or  heard,  of  which  you  were  a 
great  part.  Choate  and  Howe  joined." 

a "Report  of  the  Perkins  Institution  for  1889,"  pp.  149-50. 


148  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  full  force  of  an  energetic  and  self-contained  manhood.1 
Deep  in  his  convictions,  sober  in  his  conclusions,  cautious  and 
patient  in  his  methods,  he  was  the  very  man  to  sit  down  before 
this  beleaguered  citadel,  with  the  determination  to  use  every 
device  for  its  relief.  The  personage  within  was  unknown  to 
him,  and  to  all,  save  in  her  outer  aspect.  What  were  her  char 
acteristics  ?  What  her  tendencies  ?  If  he  should  ever  come 
to  speech  with  her,  would  she  prove  to  be  fully  and  normally 
human  ?  Would  her  spirit  be  amenable  to  the  laws  which  gov 
ern  the  thoughts  and  conduct  of  mankind  in  general  ?  It  must 
be  said  for  the  public,  which  became  aware  of  this  case  and  its 
progress,  that  it  followed  Dr.  Howe's  advance  with  the  keen 
est  interest.  The  appearance  of  his  annual  reports  was  waited 
for  almost  as  are  the  numbers  of  a  serial  in  a  magazine.  Much 
of  this  interest  was  no  doubt  inspired  by  an  achievement  so 
novel. 

Dr.  Howe's  own  account  of  his  celebrated  pupil, 
condensed  from  his  annual  reports,  is  as  follows  : 

HER    INFANCY    AND    LOSS    OF    SIGHT. 

Laura  Dewey  Bridgman  was  born  in  Hanover,  New  Hamp 
shire,  on  the  twenty-first  of  December,  1829.  She  is  described 
as  having  been  a  very  sprightly  and  pretty  infant,  with  bright 
blue  eyes.  She  was,  however,  so  puny  and  feeble  until  she  was 
a  year  and  a  half  old,  that  her  parents  hardly  hoped  to  rear  her. 
She  was  subject  to  severe  fits,  which  seemed  to  rack  her  frame 
almost  beyond  its  power  of  endurance,  and  life  was  held  by  the 
feeblest  tenure  ;  but,  when  a  year  and  a  half  old,  she  seemed  to 
rally;  the  dangerous  symptoms  subsided,  and  at  twenty  months 
old,  she  was  perfectly  well. 

Then  her  mental  powers,  hitherto  stinted  in  their  growth, 
rapidly  developed  themselves  ;  and  during  the  four  months  of 

1  He  was  thirty-six  years  old.  At  this  time  Mrs.  Howe  (Miss 
Julia  Ward,  of  New  York)  did  not  know  Dr.  Howe,  whom  she 
met  about  three  years  later. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  149 

health  which  she  enjoyed,  she  appears  (making  due  allowance 
for  a  fond  mother's  account)  to  have  displayed  a  considerable 
degree  of  intelligence.  But  suddenly  she  sickened  again ;  her 
disease  raged  with  great  violence  during  five  weeks,  when  her 
eyes  and  ears  were  inflamed,  suppurated,  and  their  contents 
were  discharged.  But  though  sight  and  hearing  were  gone  for 
ever,  the  poor  child's  sufferings  were  not  ended  ;  the  fever  raged 
during  seven  weeks  ;  "  for  five  months  she  was  kept  in  bed  in 
a  darkened  room  ;  it  was  a  year  before  she  could  walk  unsup 
ported,  and  two  years  before  she  could  sit  up  all  day."  It  was 
now  observed  that  her  sense  of  smell  was  almost  entirely 
destroyed  ;  and,  consequently,  that  her  taste  was  much  blunted. 
It  was  not  until  four  years  of  age  that  the  poor  child's  bodily 
health  seemed  restored,  and  she  was  able  to  enter  upon  her 
apprenticeship  of  life  and  the  world.  .  .  . 

As  soon  as  she  could  walk  she  hegan  to  explore  the  room, 
and  then  the  house.  She  followed  her  mother  and  felt  of  her 
hands  and  arms;  and  her  disposition  to  imitate  led  her  to 
repeat  everything  herself.  She  even  learned  to  sew  a  little  and 
to  knit.  But  though  she  received  all  the  aid  that  a  kind  mother 
could  bestow,  she  soon  began  to  give  proof  of  the  importance 
of  language  to  the  development  of  human  character.  Caress 
ing  and  chiding  will  do  for  infants  and  dogs,  but  not  for  chil 
dren  ;  and  by  the  time  Laura  was  seven  years  old,  the  moral 
effects  of  her  privation  began  to  appear.  There  was  nothing 
to  control  her  will  but  the  absolute  power  of  another,  and 
humanity  revolts  at  this;  she  had  already  begun  to  disregard 
all  but  the  sterner  nature  of  her  father ;  and  it  was  evident 
that,  as  the  propensities  should  increase  with  her  physical 
growth,  so  would  the  difficulty  of  restraining  them  increase. 
At  this  time  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  hear  of  the  child,  and 
immediately  hastened  to  Hanover  to  see  her.  I  found  her  with 
a  well-formed  figure  ;  a  strongly  marked,  nervous-sanguine 
temperament;  a  large  and  beautifully  shaped  head,  and  the 
whole  system  in  healthy  action.  Here  seemed  a  rare  oppor 
tunity  of  benefiting  an  individual,  and  of  trying  a  plan  for  the 
education  of  a  deaf  and  blind  person,  which  I  had  formed  on 


150  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

seeing  Julia  Brace,  at  Hartford  (in  1834).  The  parents  were 
easily  induced  to  consent  to  her  coming  to  Boston ;  and  on  the 
fourth  of  October,  1837,  they  brought  her  to  the  institution. 

LAURA'S  FIRST  LESSONS. 

The  first  experiments  were  made  by  taking  articles  in  com 
mon  use,  such  as  knives,  forks,  spoons,  keys,  etc.,  and  pasting 
upon  them  labels  with  their  names  printed  in  raised  letters. 
These  she  felt  of  very  carefully,  and  soon,  of  course,  dis 
tinguished  that  the  crooked  lines  spoon  differed  as  much  from 
the  crooked  lines  key,  as  the  spoon  differed  from  the  key  in 
form.  Then  small,  detached  labels,  with  the  same  words 
printed  upon  them,  were  put  into  her  hands ;  and  she  soon 
observed  that  they  were  similar  to  the  ones  pasted  on  the 
articles.  She  showed  her  perception  of  this  similarity  by  lay 
ing  the  label  key  upon  the  key,  and  the  label  spoon  upon  the 
spoon.  She  was  here  encouraged  by  the  natural  sign  of 
approbation,  patting  on  the  head. 

The  same  process  was  then  repeated  with  all  the  articles 
which  she  could  handle;  and  she  very  easily  learned  to  place 
the  proper  labels  upon  them.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  the 
only  intellectual  exercise  was  that  of  imitation  and  memory. 
She  recollected  that  the  label  book  was  placed  upon  a  book,  and 
she  repeated  the  process,  first  from  imitation,  next  from  mem 
ory,  with  no  other  motive  than  the  love  of  approbation,  and 
apparently  without  the  intellectual  perception  of  any  relation 
between  the  things.  After  a  while,  instead  of  labels,  the  indi 
vidual  letters  were  given  to  her  on  detached  pieces  of  paper ; 
they  were  arranged  side  by  side,  so  as  to  spell  book,  key,  etc. ; 
then  they  were  mixed  up  in  a  heap,  and  a  sign  was  made  for 
her  to  arrange  them  herself,  so  as  to  express  the  words  book, 
key,  etc.,  and  she  did  so. 

Hitherto,  the  process  had  been  mechanical,  and  the  success 
about  as  great  as  teaching  a  very  knowing  dog,  a  variety  of 
tricks.  The  poor  child  had  sat  in  mute  amazement,  and 
patiently  imitated  everything  her  teacher  did;  but  now  the 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  151 

truth  began  to  flash  upon  her,  her  intellect  began  to  work,  she 
perceived  that  here  was  a  way  by  which  she  could  herself  make 
up  a  sign  of  anything  that  was  in  her  own  mind,  and  show  it 
to  another  mind,  and  at  once  her  countenance  lighted  up  with 
.a  human  expression ;  it  was  no  longer  a  dog  or  parrot — it 
was  an  immortal  spirit,  eagerly  seizing  upon  a  new  link  of 
union  with  other  spirits !  I  could  almost  fix  upon  the  moment 
when  this  truth  dawned  upon  her  mind,  and  spread  its  light  to 
her  countenance  ;  I  saw  that  the  great  obstacle  was  overcome, 
and  that  henceforward  nothing  but  patient  and  persevering, 
plain  and  straightforward  efforts  were  to  be  used. 

The  result,  thus  far,  is  quickly  related,  and  easily  conceived ; 
but  not  so  was  the  process ;  for  many  weeks  of  apparently 
unprofitable  labor  were  passed  before  it  was  effected. 

The  next  step  was  to  procure  a  set  of  metal  types,  with  the 
different  letters  of  the  alphabet  cast  upon  their  ends ;  also  a 
board,  in  which  were  square  holes,  into  which  holes  she  could 
set  the  types,  so  that  the  letters  on  their  ends  could  alone  be 
felt  above  the  surface.  Then,  on  any  article  being  handed  her 
— for  instance,  a  pencil  or  a  watch — she  would  select  the  com 
ponent  letters,  and  arrange  them  on  her  board,  and  read  them 
with  apparent  pleasure.  She  was  exercised  for  several  weeks 
in  this  way,  until  her  vocabulary  became  extensive ;  and  then 
the  important  step  was  taken  of  teaching  her  how  to  represent 
the  different  letters  by  the  position  of  her  fingers,  instead  of  the 
cumbrous  apparatus  of  the  board  and  types.  She  accomplished 
this  speedily  and  easily,  for  her  intellect  had  begun  to  work  in 
aid  of  her  teacher,  and  her  progress  was  rapid. 

The  whole  of  the  succeeding  year  was  passed  in  gratifying 
her  eager  inquiries  for  the  names  of  every  object  which  she 
could  possibly  handle;  in  exercising  her  in  the  use  of  the  man 
ual  alphabet ;  in  extending  by  every  possible  way  her  knowl 
edge  of  the  physical  relations  of  things ;  and  in  taking  proper 
care  of  her  health. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  a  report  of  her  case  says  :  Of  beauti 
ful  sights,  and  sweet  sounds,  and  pleasant  odors,  she  has  no 
conception  ;  nevertheless  she  seems  as  happy  and  playful  as  a 


152  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

bird  or  a  lamb ;  and  the  employment  of  her  intellectual  facul^ 
ties,  the  acquirement  of  a  new  idea,  gives  her  a  vivid  pleasure, 
which  is  plainly  marked  in  her  expressive  features.  She  never 
seems  to  repine,  but  has  all  the  buoyancy  and  gaity  of  child 
hood.  She  is  fond  of  fun  and  frolic,  and,  when  playing  with 
the  rest  of  the  children,  her  shrill  laugh  sounds  loudest  of  the 
group.  When  left  alone,  she  seems  very  happy  if  she  has  her 
knitting  or  sewing,  and  will  busy  herself  for  hours ;  if  she  has 
no  occupation,  she  evidently  amuses  herself  by  imaginary  dia 
logues,  or  recalling  past  impressions ;  she  counts  with  her  fin 
gers,  or  spells  out  names  of  things  which  she  has  recently 
learned,  in  the  manual  alphabet  of  the  deaf-mutes.  In  this 
lonely  self-communion  she  reasons,  reflects,  and  argues ;  if  she 
spells  a  word  wrong  with  the  ringers  of  her  right  hand,  she 
instantly  strikes  it  with  her  left,  as  her  teacher  does,  in  sign  of  dis 
approbation  ;  if  right,  then  she  pats  herself  upon  the  head  and 
looks  pleased.  She  sometimes  purposely  spells  a  word  wrong 
with  the  left  hand,  looks  roguish  for  a  moment,  and  laughs, 
and  then  with  the  right  hand  strikes  the  left,  as  if  to  correct  it. 
When  Laura  is  walking  through  a  passage-way,  with  her 
hands  spread  before  her,  she  knows  instantly  every  one  she 
meets,  and  passes  them  with  a  sign  of  recognition ;  but  if  it  be 
a  girl  of  her  own  age,  and  especially  if  one  of  her  favorites, 
there  is  instantly  a  bright  smile  of  recognition,  an  intertwining 
of  arms,  a  grasping  of  hands,  and  a  swift  telegraphing  upon  the 
tiny  fingers,  whose  rapid  evolutions  convey  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  from  the  outposts  of  one  mind  to  those  of  the  other. 
There  are  questions  and  answers,  exchanges  of  joy  or  sorrow ; 
there  are  kissings  and  partings,  just  as  between  little  children 
with  all  their  senses.  One  such  interview  is  a  better  refutation 
of  the  doctrine,  that  mind  is  the  result  of  sensation,  than  folios  of 
learned  argument.  If  those  philosophers  who  consider  man  as 
only  the  most  perfect  animal,  and  attribute  his  superiority  to 
his  senses,  be  correct,  then  a  dog  or  a  monkey  should  have 
mental  power  quadruple  that  of  poor  Laura,  who  has  but  one 
sense. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  153 

LAURA    AND    HER    MOTHER. 

During  this  year  (1836),  and  six  months  after  she  had  left 
home,  her  mother  came  to  visit  her,  and  their  meeting  was  an 
interesting  one.  The  mother  stood  some  time,  gazing  with 
overflowing  eyes  upon  her  unfortunate  child,  who,  all  uncon 
scious  of  her  presence,  was  playing  about  the  room.  Presently 
Laura  ran  against  her,  and  at  once  began  feeling  of  her  hands, 
examining  her  dress,  and  trying  to  find  out  if  she  knew  her  ; 
but,  not  succeeding  in  this,  she  turned  away  as  from  a  stranger, 
and  the  poor  woman  could  not  conceal  the  pang  she  felt,  at 
finding  that  her  beloved  child  did  not  know  her.  She  then  gave 
Laura  a  string  of  beads  which  she  used  to  wear  at  home,  which 
were  recognized  by  the  child  at  once,  who,  with  much  joy,  put 
them  around  her  neck,  and  sought  me  eagerly,  to  say  she 
understood  the  string  was  from  her  home.  The  mother  now 
tried  to  caress  her,  but  poor  Laura  repelled  her,  preferring  to 
be  with  her  acquaintances.  Another  article  from  home  was 
now  given  her,  and  she  began  to  look  much  interested ;  she 
examined  the  stranger  much  closer,  and  gave  me  to  understand 
that  she  knew  she  came  from  Hanover ;  she  even  endured  her 
caresses,  but  would  leave  her  with  indifference  at  the  slightest 
signal.  The  distress  of  the  mother  was  now  painful  to  behold; 
for,  although  she  had  feared  that  she  should  not  be  recognized, 
yet  the  reality  of  being  treated  with  cold  indifference  by  a 
darling  child  was  too  much  for  woman's  nature  to  bear. 

After  a  while,  on  the  mother  taking  hold  of  her  again,  a  vague 
idea  seemed  to  flit  across  Laura's  mind,  that  this  could  not  be 
a  stranger ;  she  therefore  felt  of  her  hands  very  eagerly,  while 
her  countenance  assumed  an  expression  of  intense  interest ; 
she  became  very  pale,  and  then  suddenly  red ;  hope  seemed 
struggling  with  doubt  and  anxiety,  and  never  were  contending 
emotions  more  strongly  painted  upon  the  human  face.  At  this 
moment  of  painful  uncertainty,  the  mother  drew  her  close  to 
her  side,  and  kissed  her  fondly  ;  when  at  once  the  truth  flashed 
upon  the  child,  and  all  mistrust  and  anxiety  disappeared  from 
her  face,  as  with  an  expression  of  exceeding  joy  she  eagerly 


154  DR-    s-    G.    HOWE. 

nestled  to  the  bosom  of  her  parent,  and  yielded  herself  to  her 
fond  embraces. 

After  this,  the  beads  were  all  unheeded ;  the  playthings 
which  were  offered  to  her  were  utterly  disregarded  ;  her  play 
mates,  for  whom  but  a  moment  before  she  gladly  left  the 
stranger,  now  vainly  strove  to  pull  her  from  her  mother ;  and, 
though  she  yielded  her  usual  instantaneous  obedience,  to  my 
signal  to  follow  me,  it  was  evidently  with  reluctance.  She  clung 
close  to  me,  as  if  bewildered  and  fearful ;  and  when,  after  a 
moment,  I  took  her  to  her  mother,  she  sprang  to  her  arms,  and 
clung  to  her  with  eager  joy. 

I  had  watched  the  whole  scene  with  intense  interest,  being 
desirous  of  learning  from  it  all  I  could  of  the  workings  of  her 
mind ;  but  I  now  left  them  to  indulge  unobserved  those  deli 
cious  feelings,  which  those  who  have  known  a  mother's  love 
may  conceive,  but  which  cannot  be  expressed. 

LAURA    COINS    WORDS. 

In  her  eagerness  to  advance  her  knowledge  of  words  and  to 
communicate  her  ideas,  she  coins  words,  and  is  always  guided 
by  analogy.  Sometimes  her  process  of  'word-making  is  very 
interesting ;  for  instance,  after  some  time  spent  in  giving  her 
an  idea  of  the  abstract  meaning  of  alone,  she  seemed  to  obtain 
it,  and  understanding  that  being  by  one's  set/was  to  be  alone, 
or  al-one ;  she  was  told  to  go  to  her  chamber,  or  school,  or 
elsewhere,  and  return  alone ;  she  did  so,  but  soon  after,  wish 
ing  to  go  with  one  of  the  little  girls,  she  strove  to  express  her 
meaning  thus,  "  Laura  go  al-two."  The  same  eagerness  is 
manifested  in  her  attempts  to  define  for  the  purpose  of  classifi 
cation  ;  for  instance,  some  one  giving  her  the  word  bachelor, 
she  came  to  her  teacher  for  a  definition.  She  was  taught  that 
men  who  had  wives  were  husbands,  those  who  had  none, 
bachelors;  when  asked  if  she  understood,  she  said  " man  no 
have  wife,  bachelor — Tenny  bachelor ;"  referring  to  an  old 
friend  of  hers.  Being  told  to  define  bachelor,  she  said, 
"bachelor,  no  have  wife  and  smoke  pipe."  Thus  she  con 
sidered  the  individual  peculiarity  of  smoking,  in  one  person,  as 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  155 

a  specific  mark  of  the  species  bachelor.  Then,  in  order  to  test 
her  knowledge  of  the  word,  it  was  said  by  her  teacher, 
"  Tenny  has  got  no  wife  ;  what  is  Tenny  ?  "  She  paused,  and 
then  said,  "  Tenny  is  wrong  !  " 

The  word  widow  being  explained  to  her  (a  woman  whose 
husband  is  dead),  she  being  called  upon  to  define,  she  said, 
"  widow  is  woman,  man  dead  and  cold"  and  eked  out  her 
meaning  by  sinking  down  and  dropping  her  hand,  to  signify  in 
the  ground.  The  two  last  words  she  added  herself,  they  not 
having  been  in  the  definition  ;  but  instantly  associates  the  idea 
of  coldness  and  burial  \v\i\\.  death.  Her  having  acquired  any 
idea  of  death  was  not  by  the  wish  of  her  teacher,  it  having 
been  his  intention  to  reserve  the  subject  until  such  a  develop 
ment  of  her  reason  should  be  attained  as  would  enable  him  to 
give  a  correct  idea  of  it.  He  hopes  still,  by  aid  of  the  analogy 
of  the  germination  and  growth  of  plants,  to  give  her  a  consol 
ing  hope  of  resurrection,  to  counterbalance  the  almost  instinc 
tive  dread  of  death.  She  had  touched  a  dead  body  before  she 
came  to  the  institution. 

HER    WRITING,    AND    HER    AESTHETICS. 

Having  acquired  the  use  of  substantives,  adjectives,  verbs, 
prepositions  and  conjunctions,  it  was  deemed  time  to  make  the 
experiment  of  trying  to  teach  her  to  write,  and  to  show  her 
that  she  might  communicate  her  ideas  to  persons  not  in  con 
tact  with  her.  It  was  amusing  to  witness  the  mute  amaze 
ment  with  which  she  submitted  to  the  process,  the  docility 
with  which  she  imitated  every  motion,  and  the  perseverance 
with  which  she  moved  her  pencil  over  and  over  again  in  the 
same  track,  until  she  could  form  the  letter.  But  when  at  last 
the  idea  dawned  upon  her,  that  by  this  mysterious  process  she 
could  make  other  people  understand  what  she  thought,  her  joy 
was  boundless.  Never  did  a  child  apply  more  eagerly  and  joy 
fully  to  any  task  than  she  did  to  this,  and  in  a  few  months  she 
could  make  every  letter  distinctly,  and  separate  words  from 
each  other. 


156  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

She  has  the  same  fondness  for  a  dress,  for  ribbons,  and  for 
finery  as  other  girls  of  her  age,  and,  as  a  proof  that  it  arises 
from  the  same  amiable  desire  of  pleasing  others,  it  may  be 
remarked  that  whenever  she  has  a  new  bonnet  or  any  new 
article  of  dress,  she  is  particularly  desirous  to  go  to  meeting, 
or  to  go  out  with  it.  If  people  do  not  notice  it,  she  directs 
their  attention  by  placing  their  hands  upon  it.  Generally  she 
indicates  her  preference  for  such  visitors  as  are  the  best 
dressed. 

She  is  so  much  in  company  with  blind  persons  that  she 
thinks  blindness  common  ;  and,  when  first  meeting  persons, 
she  asks  if  they  are  blind,  or  she  feels  of  their  eyes.  She 
evidently  knows  that  the  blind  differ  from  seeing  persons,  for 
when  she  shows  blind  persons  anything,  she  always  puts  their 
fingers  on  it. 

She  seems  to  have  a  perception  of  character,  and  to  have  no 
esteem  for  those  who  have  little  intellect.  The  following 
anecdote  is  significant  of  her  perception  of  character,  and 
shows  that  from  her  friends  she  requires  something  more  than 
good-natured  indulgence.  A  new  scholar  entered  school,  a 
little  girl  about  Laura's  age.  She  was  very  helpless,  and  Laura 
took  great  pride  and  great  pains  in  showing  her  the  way  about 
the  house,  assisting  her  to  dress  and  undress,  and  doing  for  her 
many  things  which  she  could  not  do  for  herself.  In  a  few 
weeks  it  began  to  be  apparent,  even  to  Laura,  that  the  child 
was  not  only  helpless,  but  naturally  very  stupid,  being  almost 
an  idiot.  Then  Laura  gave  her  up  in  despair,  and  avoided  her, 
and  has  ever  since  had  an  aversion  to  being  with  her,  passing 
her  by  as  if  in  contempt.  By  a  natural  association  of  ideas  she 
attributes  to  this  child  all  those  countless  deeds  which  Mr. 
Nobody  does  in  every  house  ;  if  a  chair  is  broken  or  anything 
misplaced,  and  no  one  knows  who  did  it,  Laura  attributes  it  at 
once  to  this  child. 

Sometimes  her  acts  and  expressions  furnish  themes  as  inter 
esting  to  the  poet  as  to  the  philosopher.  On  New  Year's  Day, 
when  I  was  in  Europe,  she  met  her  teacher,  and  said :  "  It  is 
new  happy  year  day,"  The  teacher  wished  her  a  happy  New 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  157 

Year;  when  she  turned  to  the  East,  and,  stretching  out  her 
hand,  said:  "  I  want  Doctor  a  happy  New  Year,"  She  then 
paused,  and,  turning  to  her  teacher,  said  :  "  But  Doctor  cannot 
know  I  say  so." 

I  have  sometimes  questioned  her  about  her  aesthetical  per 
ceptions,  but  have  not  obtained  any  very  sal  isfactory  answers. 
Her  ideas  of  beauty  in  material  things  are  principally  connected 
with  smoothness.  A  round  ball  is  not  more  beautiful  to  her 
than  a  square  box,  provided  they  are  equally  smooth.  Fresh 
ness  or  newness  is,  indeed,  an  element,  but  this  is  evidently 
derived  from  the  associations  with  new  clothes,  new  shoes,  etc. 
With  respect  to  long  or  short  noses,  regular  or  irregular  features, 
she  has  no  thought ;  and  yet  it  is  probable  that  a  monstrously 
large  nose  would  shock  her,  and  that  one  as  short  as  Dr. 
Slop's  would  amuse  her ;  for,  on  my  asking  how  she  would  like 
a  person  with  a  nose  not  larger  than  a  pea,  she  said  it  would  be 
"  funny."  She  perceives  symmetry  of  person,  however,  and  is 
disagreeably  affected  by  any  strongly  marked  departure  from 
it.  On  asking  her  if  a  little  hump-backed  girl  was  handsome, 
she  said,  very  emphatically,  "  No  !"  "Why  not?"  said  I. 
"  Because,"  said  she,  "  she  is  crooked  ;  "  and  she  imitated  the 
motion  of  the  child  walking,  and  asked  why  she  could  not  grow 
like  other  children.  She  said  a  lady  of  her  acquaintance,  who 
is  very  fat  and  ungainly,  was  very  ugly,  "Why?"  said  I. 
But  she  could  only  reply  that  she  did  not  know — that  she  was  too 
large  about  the  waist,  and  that  "her  stomach  came  out  too  quick." 

I  asked  her  who  was  the  handsomest  lady  of  her  acquaint 
ance,  and  she  replied,  " ;  "  but,  upon  my  pressing  her 

for  her  reason,  she  could  only  say  that  her  hands  were  smooth, 
soft,  and  pretty. 

A  cane  with  knots  on  it  was  less  pleasing  to  her  than  a 
smooth  one,  and  an  irregular  knobbed  stick  than  one  with  the 
prominences  at  regular  intervals.  She  has  thus  the  rudiments 
of  the  aesthetic  sense,  but,  'like  that  of  other  children,  its 
development  must  depend  upon  education  and  habit.  She  is 
not  yet  old  enough  to  give  any  satisfactory  account  of  her  own 
feelings  on  the  subject. 


158  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

THE   RESULT    OF   TEN    YEARS'   TEACHING. 

When  she  began  fairly  to  comprehend  and  to  use  arbitrary 
language,  then  she  got  hold  of  a  thread  by  which  her  mind 
could  be  guided  out  into  the  light ;  she  has  held  on  to  it  firmly 
and  followed  it  eagerly,  and  come  out  into  a  world  which  has 
been  made  to  her  one  of  joy  and  gladness  by  the  general 
welcome  with  which  she  has  been  greeted.  Her  progress  has 
been  a  curious  and  an  interesting  spectacle.  She  has  come  into 
human  society  with  a  sort  of  triumphal  march  ;  her  course  has 
been  a  perpetual  ovation.  Thousands  have  been  watching  her 
with  eager  eyes,  and  applauding  each  successful  step  ;  while 
she,  all  unconscious  of  their  gaze,  holding  on  to  the  slender 
thread  and  feeling  her  way  along,  has  advanced  with  faith  and' 
courage  towards  those  who  awaited  her  with  trembling  hope. 
Nothing  shows  more  than  her  case  the  importance  which, 
despite  their  useless  waste  of  human  life  and  human  capacity, 
men  really  attach  to  a  human  soul.  They  owe  to  her  something 
for  furnishing  an  opportunity  of  showing  how  much  of  good 
ness  there  is  in  them  ;  for  surely  the  way  in  which  she  has  been 
regarded  is  creditable  to  humanity.  Perhaps  there  are  not 
three  living  women  whose  names  are  more  widely  known  than 
hers  ;  and  there  is  not  one  who  has  excited  so  much  sympathy 
and  interest.  There  are  thousands  of  women  in  the  world  who 
are  striving  to  attract  its  notice  and  gain  its  admiration — some 
by  the  natural  magic  of  beauty  and  grace,  some  by  the  high 
nobility  of  talent,  some  by  the  lower  nobility  of  rank  and 
title,  some  by  the  vulgar  show  of  wealth ;  but  none  of  them  has 
done  it  so  effectually  as  this  poor  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb  girl,  by 
the  silent  show  of  her  misfortunes,  and  her  successful  efforts  to 
surmount  them. 

Everything  that  has  been  printed  here  respecting  her  has 
been  reprinted  in  England,  and  translations  have  been  made  into 
the  Continental  languages ;  so  that  Laura,  without  any  other 
claim  to  notice  than  the  weight  of  her  misfortunes  and  the 
effort  made  to  lighten  them,  enjoys  almost  a  world-wide 
renown. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  159 

DICKENS'S    PRAISE    OF    DR.    HOWE. 

How  true  were  these  remarks  about  the  fame  that 
Laura  had  acquired,  may  be  seen,  in  part,  by  the 
space  which  Charles  Dickens,  the  novelist,  gave  to 
her  story,  in  his  "  American  Notes"  printed  in  1842, 
and  published  in  America  before  1843.  In  the  spring 
of  1842  Dickens  had  spent  a  month  in  Boston,  and 
had  several  times  visited  Dr.  Howe  and  his  "  institu 
tion,"  which  was  then  legally  entitled  "The  Perkins 
Institution  and  Massachusetts  Asylum  for  the  Blind," 
and  had  by  this  time  been  removed  to  "  Mount  Wash 
ington  "  in  South  Boston,  where  it  occupied  a  fine 
breezy  hill  top,  close  by  the  old  fortifications  of 
Washington  on  Dorchester  Heights/  He  says  : 

I  sat  down  in  another  room  before  a  girl,  blind,  deaf,  and 
dumb,  destitute  of  smell,  and  nearly  so  of  taste  ;  before  a  fair 
young  creature  (she  was  then  twelve)  with  every  human  faculty 
and  hope  and  power  of  goodness  and  affection,  inclosed  within 
her  delicate  frame  ;  and  but  one  outward  sense — the  sense  of 
touch.  There  she  was  before  me,  built  up,  as  it  were,  in  a 
marble  cell,  impervious  to  any  ray  of  light  or  particle  of 
sound ;  with  her  poor  white  hand,  peeping  through  a  'hink  in 
the  wall,  beckoning  to  some  good  man  for  help,  that  an  immor 
tal  soul  might  be  awakened.  Long  before  I  looked  upon  her, 
the  help  had  come.  Her  face  was  radiant  with  intelligence  and 
pleasure.  From  the  mournful  ruin  of  such  bereavement,  there 
had  slowly  risen  up  this  gentle,  tender,  guileless,  grateful- 
hearted  being.  I  have  extracted  a  few  disjointed  fragments  of 
her  history  from  an  account  written  by  that  one  man  who  has 
made  her  what  she  is.  It  is  a  very  beautiful  and  touching  nar- 


1  It  remains  and  will  remain  in  this  spot,  where  its  estate  has 
been  much  enlarged  of  late. 


l6o  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

rative.  The  name  of  her  great  benefactor  and  friend,  who 
writes  it,  is  Dr.  Howe.  There  are  not  many  persons,  I  hope 
and  believe,  who,  after  reading  these  passages  can  ever  hear 
that  name  with  indifference.  Well  may  that  gentleman  call 
that  a  delightful  moment,  in  which  some  distant  promise  of  her 
present  state  first  dawned  upon  the  darkened  mind  of  Laura 
Bridgman.  Throughout  his  life,  the  recollection  of  that 
moment  will  be  to  him  a  source  of  pure,  unfading  happiness ; 
nor  will  it  shine  less  brightly  on  the  evening  of  his  days  of 
noble  usefulness.1 

Now,  when  it  is  considered  that  Dickens  was  then 
the  most  popular  author  in  the  language,  and  that 
this  book,  "  American  Notes  for  General  Circulation," 
did  circulate  in  the  world  as  widely  as  any  of  his 
novels,  some  conception  can  be  formed  of  the  extent 
to  which  Laura  and  her  education  became  known, 
while  she  was  yet  a  child.  As  she  grew  to  be  a 
woman,  she  still  remained  in  the  care  of  Dr.  Howe  ; 
for  she  never  married,  and  there  was  no  family  prop 
erty,  and  no  cccupation  by  which  she  could  earn  her 
own  support.  Of  this  Dr.  Howe  wrote  pathetically 
in  1849,  when  she  had  begun  to  appreciate  her  own 
position,  and  to  wish  for  some  means  of  earning 
money.  The  passage  will  be  cited  shortly  ;  it  occurs 
in  one  of  the  reports  of  the  Blind  Asylum.  But  first 
should  be  given  the  account  of  Laura's  visit  to  the 
American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  in  Hartford,  a  few 
months  before  Dickens  saw  her.  I  quote  from  a  let 
ter  in  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 


1  "  American   Notes."      Chapter   Third.      Dickens   has   quoted 
many  of  the  passages  which  I  have  given. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  l6l 

LAURA    AND    JULIA    BRACE. 

HARTFORD,  November,  1841. 

I  was  at  the  school  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  this  morning-,  when 
that  interesting  little  creature,  Laura  Bridgman  (who  has  but 
one  sense — that  of  touch),  arrived  from  Boston,  and  made  her 
first  visit.  She  was  accompanied  by  Dr.  Howe,  Mrs.  Sigour- 
ney,  and  some  other  persons,  and  her  coming  seemed  to  be 
quite  unexpected.  It  is  probable  that  there  is  hardly  another 
person  in  the  United  States  whose  appearance  at  the  school 
would  create  such  a  sensation  among  the  hundred  and  fifty 
inmates.  Her  name  was  familiar  to  all  the  pupils,  who  had 
doubtless  marveled  much  how  a  dumb  child,  deprived  also  of 
the  sense  of  sight,  by  which  they  themselves  learn  everything, 
should  be  able  to  learn  to  read,  write,  and  talk. 

When  the  news  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand  that  Laura 
Bridgman  was  in  the  office,  the  teachers  and  pupils  came 
thronging  round  her,  and  filled  the  room  and  passage-way; 
while  all  the  way  up  the  staircase  stood  scores  of  little  girls, 
with  sparkling  eyes  and  animated  faces,  eagerly  gesticulating 
to  each  other,  and  conversing  rapidly  in  dumb  show. 

It  was  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  so  much  life  and  happiness 
among  those  unfortunates ;  but  the  principal  attraction  was 
little  Laura,  who,  having  taken  off  her  bonnet  and  cloak,  ap 
peared  one  of  the  most  interesting  children  you  ever  saw^ 
Slender  and  delicately  formed,  with  beautiful  features  and  fair 
complexion,  so  graceful  were  her  motions,  so  animated  her 
gesticulations,  and  so  full  of  life  was  her  countenance,  that, 
but  for  the  green  ribbon  bound  over  her  sightless  orbs,  you 
would  have  called  her  one  of  nature's  most  gifted  children. 
Such  is  the  power  of  the  soul — such  its  independence  of  sense. 
There  stood  this  child  in  a  crowd,  without  one  ray  of  light  to 
pierce  her  ever-during  darkness,  without  a  sound  to  break  the 
dreary  stillness,  without  an  odor  even  to  show  the  presence  of 
others ;  yet  joyous  as  a  bird,  yet  conscious  of  everything  that 
was  going  on,  yet  eager  to  shake  hands  with  all,  and  to  learn 


1 62  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  names  of  all ;  delighted  to  find  that  everyone  could  talk  in 
her  finger  language,  and  evidently  enjoying  the  boon  of  exist 
ence,  and  speaking  in  dumb  but  expressive  language  the  praise 
of  Him  who  willeth  the  happiness  of  all  whom  He  createth. 

She  was  very  impatient  to  meet  Julia  Brace,  the  only  person  in 
the  world,  perhaps,  whose  privation  of  sense  approaches  in 
degree  to  hers  ;  and  about  whom  it  seems  much  had  been  told 
her.  At  last  Julia  was  brought  down,  and  the  two  met,  and 
felt  of  each  other.  But  what  a  difference  between  the  two ! 
Julia  is  a  woman  grown,  and  unprepossessing  in  her  appear 
ance — because  she  is  without  animation,  without  vivacity, 
without  any  expression  of  face.  She  was  made  to  understand, 
by  placing  her  fingers  on  Laura's  eyes  and  on  her  ears,  that  she 
was  blind  and  deaf  like  herself,  but  her  countenance  changed 
not ;  she  manifested  little  interest,  and  in  a  moment  or  two 
began  to  withdraw  from  the  child,  who  clung  to  her,  put 
around  her  neck  a  chain  of  her  own  braiding,  and  kissed  her. 
Vain  impulse  of  affection  !  Julia  coolly  put  into  her  pocket  the 
present  which  Laura  had  brought  her,  and  was  making  off 
from  the  child,  whose  distress  now  became  evident,  and  who 
eagerly  asked  the  others,  "  Why  does  she  push  me  ?  Why 
does  she  not  love  me  ?  " 

What  a  contrast  in  their  character!  Laura  wanted  her 
affection  and  sympathy,  and  would  not  be  satisfied  without 
them  ;  while  Julia,  having  got  her  present,  was  desirous  of  ter 
minating  the  interview,  and  carrying  off  her  possession.  Such 
is  the  effect  of  education ;  such  the  consequence  of  evolving 
the  moral  and  social  nature,  as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of 
Laura ;  or  of  exercising  only  the  lower  propensities,  and  allow 
ing  the  human  being  to  live  as  do  the  brutes,  within  himself 
and  for  himself  alone. 

I  suspect  this  letter  is  from  the  hand  of  Dr.  Howe,  for 
it  barely  mentions  him,  and  passes  to  that  aspect  of 
Laura's  education  on  which  he  loved  best  to  dwell,  its 
effect  in  unfolding  the  higher  nature,  and  completing 
the  work  which  heaven  leaves  for  man  to  do.  He  had 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  163 

promised  Colonel  Stone,  of  the  Commercial  Advertiser, 
in  a  private  letter  some  months  before,  to  wr.ite 
something  on  this  peculiar  education  :  and  this 
earlier  letter  is  worth  citing,  because  it  speaks  of 
another  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind  girl  (Lucy  Reid,  from 
Vermont),  who  did  not  prove  so  tractable  a  pupil  as 
Laura. 

LETTER  FROM  DR.  HOWE  TO  W.  L.  STONE. 

BOSTON,  July  5,  1841. 
MY  DEAR  COLONEL 

You  certainly  have  a  most  extraordinary  faculty  of  finding 
out  what  everybody  on  earth  is  doing — indeed  I  begin  to 
think  you  have  some  magnetic  imp  in  your  printing  establish 
ment  who  reads  through  stone  walls  as  we  do  through  glass — 
all  for  the  benefit  of  the  Commercial /  How  did  you  get  hold 
of  my  account  of  the  person  blistering  his  fingers  to  read  the 
Testament  ?  It  is  a  pity,  however,  that  your  Flibbertigibbet 
did  not  read  more  accurately.  The  scene  was  a  military 
station  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges — the  subject  a  blind  pen 
sioner,  a  British  soldier — not  a  Dutchman.  He  blistered  his 
fingers,  not  once,  but  many  times,  and  at  last  got  them  so  that 
he  could  read  easily,  when  he  literally  sang  aloud  for  joy. 

But,  Colonel,  I  want  your  aid  in  a  plan  I  have  for  stereotyp 
ing  the  New  Testament  for  the  blind. x  It  will  be  a  very 
expensive  affair — say  $1,500  for  the  plates  and  one  small  edi 
tion;  but  after  that  there  will  be  no  expense  save  that  of 
paper  and  binding — the  press-work  being  but  a  trifle.  We 
have  been  obliged  to  economise  the  edition  which  was  printed 
in  1837,  and  to  give  copies  only  to  those  who  were  most  likely 
to  be  benefited.  But  with  all  this  we  have  not  now  more  than 


1  See  Dr,  Howe's  remarks  on  the  Scriptures  for  the  blind  on 
p.  131. 


164  DR.    S.    0.    HOWE. 

enough  to  supply  all  who  are  calling  for  copies,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  all  will  be  taken  up. 

There  is  no  class  of  persons  to  whom  the  Scriptures  are 
more  acceptable  than  to  the  blind  ;  for  their  infirmity,  while  it 
increases  their  sense  of  dependence  upon  God,  gives  them 
much  leisure  to  study  His  word  and  His  works. 

I  could  give  you  the  most  touching  cases  of  calls  from  the 
blind  for  the  sacred  Scriptures.  I  could  send  you  autograph 
letters  from  them,  acknowledging  in  the  liveliest  terms  their 
gratitude  for  a  gift  of  the  Testament.  I  could  prove  to  you 
from  the  statistics  of  the  country,  that  the  demand  for  the 
Scriptures  by  the  blind  will  be  permanent  and  increasing.  All 
this  indeed  I  propose  to  do,  if  we  can  devise  any  plan  by  which 
the  work  is  likely  to  be  accomplished.  I  wish,  therefore,  you 
would  give  me  your  opinion  on  the  subject.  I  suppose  we 
shall  have  to  rely  mainly  upon  the  Bible  societies.  If  it  is 
advisable,  I  will  come  to  New  York  to  consult  with  friends 
there.  I  am  desirous  of  accomplishing  the  work  this  summer. 

I  am  happy  to  tell  you,  that,  after  nearly  six  months  appar 
ently  vain  efforts,  we  have  at  last  opened  the  means  of  com 
munication  with  the  mind  of  our  unfortunate  deaf  and  blind 
girl  from  Vermont.1  You  know  that  she  was  very  wild — 
almost  savage,  when  she  was  brought  here,  and  that  she  wore 
her  head  in  a  bag.  For  a  long  time  she  not  only  was  sullen  and 
unsocial,  but  she  furiously  repulsed  all  attempts  to  teach  her, 
and  would  not  submit  to  any  endearments.  So  intractable  was 
she,  that  I  feared  she  might  be  insane. 

When  she  grew  more  docile,  she  submitted,  indeed,  to  the 
attempts  to  teach  her  arbitrary  signs,  but  was  entirely  passive, 
and  utterly  unconscious  of  the  nature  of  the  process  to  which 
she  submitted.  Her  mind,  entirely  unused  to  reflection,  seemed 
enshrouded  in  darkness  and  stillness  as  profound  as  that  of  the 
tomb,  and  only  at  times  manifested  mute  amazement ;  but  at 
last  it  seemed  to  seize  upon  the  clew  which  was  offered  to  it, 
and  by  that  clew  is  now  guiding  itself  out  into  the  light.  She 


1  This  was  Lucy  Reid. 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  165 

is  now  manifestly  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  process  to  which 
she  is  subjected;,  her  countenance  is  alive  with  a  human 
expression ;  she  comprehends  the  signs,  and  names  several 
things,  and  begins  to  ask  for  more.  The  most  delightful  part 
of  it  is  that  little  Laura  is  a  most  ardent  and  useful  coadjutor 
in  the  work  of  enlightening  Lucy. 

I  shall  at  some  time  make  you  a  communication  for  the  Com 
mercial  on  this  subject. 

Believe  me  ever  yours, 

S.  G.  HOWE. 

The  education  of  poor  Lucy  could  not  be  carried  so 
far  as  that  of  Laura  ;  and,  though  the  case  of  Oliver 
Caswell,  another  blind  youth,  admitted  tu  Dr.  Howe's 
School  about  October,  1841,  was  far  more  interesting 
than  Lucy's,1  it  did  not  approach  the  interest  which 
Laura's  peculiar  mental  and  emotional  development 
inspired  in  all  who  knew  her,  or  read  her  wonderful 
story.  An  interest  quite  similar,  and  yet  diverse  is 
felt  in  Helen  Keller,  who  now  talks  intelligibly,  as 
Laura  never  could. 

LAURA'S   WORLDLY   POSITION  AT   TWENTY   YE     s   OLD. 

When  the  school-education  of  Laura  had  been  in 
some  degree  completed,  Dr.  Howe,  who  had,  from 
time  to  time,  reported  her  progress,  made  in  one  of 
his  yearly  reports  the  following  statement  and 
suggestion  concerning  her  future  career  : 

"  Perhaps,  by  a  little  effort  on  the  part  of  her  friends, 


1  Lucy  Reid  came  from  Derby,  Vt.,  February  16,  1841,  and  was 
recalled  by  her  parents  July  I3th.  Had  she  remained  she  could 
have  been  taught  something  useful.  Oliver  Caswell  came  Septem 
ber  30,  1 841,  and  remained  several  years.  His  portrait  with  Laura's 
was  painted  by  Fisher  in  1844,  and  may  be  seen  at  South  Boston. 


1 66  L>R.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

money  enough  might  be  raised  to  buy  for  her  a  life 
annuity,  which  would  place  her  beyond  the  reach  of 
pecuniary  want,  and  secure  to  her  the  attendance  and 
companionship  of  some  young  lady,  who  could  be  to 
her  what  Miss  Wight  has  so  long  been.  Laura  will 
do  what  she  can,  diligently  and  cheerfully,  to  perform 
those  duties  and  labors  of  life,  of  which  every  con 
scientious  person  should  discharge  his  proper  share. 
She  asks  no  one  to  do  for  her  what  she  can  do  for 
herself.  She  wishes  no  one  to  be  her  menial  or  ser 
vant.  She  has  already  done  some  service  in  her  day 
and  generation,  by  setting  forth  in  her  deportment, 
under  her  sore  afflictions,  the  native  dignity  of  the 
human  character.  She  has  shown  in-  what  degree  the 
spirit  is  dependent  upon  the  senses  for  its  manifesta 
tion  and  enjoyment.  She  has  shown  how  little  the 
fictitious  and  arbitrary  distinctions  of  life  are  neces 
sary  to  happiness.  She  is,  however,  utterly  depend 
ent  upon  human  sympathy  and  aid  for  the  contin 
uance  of  her  happiness,  and  even  of  her  life.  She  can 
appeal  only  as  she  has  done,  by  the  mute  exhibition 
of  her  helplessness,  for  that  sympathy  and  aid. 
Hitherto  it  has  been  proffered  with  eagerness  and  in 
abundance.  May  it  never  be  withheld  ;  may  an  hour 
of  need  never  come  to  her  ;  but  may  new  friends  be 
raised  up  to  her,  when  those  who  now  watch  over 
her  with  the  tender  solicitude  of  parents  can  watch 
over  and  comfort  her  no  longer  upon  earth  !  " 

This  wish   of  the  doctor  was  fulfilled,  and  by  the 
help    of  a  small    annuity,  and    the    liberality  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Asylum, — which  by  this  time  called 
itself  the    "  Massachusetts  School  for  the   Blind  "— 
Laura  continued  to  live  at   South  Boston,  until  her 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  167 

death  in  1889,  when  she  was  nearly  sixty  years  old. 
At  that  time,  and  for  thirteen  years  before,  Dr. 
Howe's  son-in-law,  Dr.  Michael  Anagnos,  a  Greek 
from  Epirus,  was  the  Director  of  the  School  which 
Howe  had  founded,  and  to  which  he  had  given  the 
devotion  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DR.    HOWE'S    SCHOOL    FOR    IDIOTS. 

EARLY  in  his  experience  with  the  blind  and  the 
deaf  Dr.  Howe  found  that  in  many  children  this  loss 
of  certain  senses  was  connected  with  a  general  weak 
ening  of  the  mental  powers — sometimes  with  actual 
idiocy.  This  fact,  and  his  observations  among  the 
insane,  which  began  before  1840,  drew  his  attention 
strongly  to  the  condition  of  idiots  ;  and  when  a  mem 
ber  of  the  State  Legislature  in  1846,  he  procured  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  to  report  to  the  Legis 
lature  on  the  number  and  condition  of  the  idiots  and 
imbeciles  in  Massachusetts.  He  wrote  in  1846-47,  the 
report  of  this  commission,  having  previously  collected 
the  facts  and  statistics  needful  ;  and  upon  the  state 
ments  and  conclusions  of  this  report  have  been  based 
not  only  the  provisions  made  for  teaching  feeble 
minded  children  in  Massachusetts,  but  those  in  many 
other  States. 

The  report  was  published  in  1847,  and  in  1848  the 
State  appropriated  $2,500  a  year  for  three  years,  for 
the  teaching  of  ten  idiotic  children.  These  children 
were  gathered  in  and  taught  at  the  Blind  Asylum, 
under  the  eye  of  Dr.  Howe;  in  1851  a  separate 
school  was  opened  in  buildings  not  far  off,  and  the 

(168) 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  169 

State  appropriation  increased  to  $5,000  a  year.  It  is 
now  (1891)  about  $30,000  a  year,  and  the  whole  income 
of  the  school  reaches  nearly  $50,000  a  year.  There 
are  more  than  300  pupils,  and  while  some  of  them 
remain  at  South  Boston,  nearly  all  are  now  quartered 
in  fine  new  buildings  at  Waltham. 

Massachusetts  has,  in  fact,  thoroughly  adopted  as 
her  own,  this  joint  work  of  Dr.  Howe  and  his  friend, 
Dr.  Edward  Jarvis.  With  it  may  also  be  connected 
the  name  of  another  citizen,  Caleb  Gushing,  eminent 
for  his  learning  and  abilities,  but  detested  many 
years  in  Massachusetts  for  his  pro-slavery  politics. 
General  Gushing  often  represented  his  town,  New- 
buryport,  in  the  General  Court,  usually  as  one  of  a 
lean  minority,  after  1841,  when  he  followed  John 
Tyler  out  of  the  Whig  party.  One  year,  about  1860, 
perhaps,  he  was  a  representative,  when  the  usual  com 
mittee  reported  an  increased  appropriation  for  Dr. 
Howe's  Idiot  School.  There  was  some  opposition; 
the  committee  did  not  support  the  bill  in  debate,  and 
it  was  likely  to  be  defeated.  At  this  point  Gushing, 
to  whom  nothing  had  been  said  by  any  friend  of  the 
bill,  rose  and  spoke  for  ten  minutes  in  its  support  ; 
explained  the  usefulness  of  the  school,  praised  Dr. 
Howe  (then  one  of  his  warmest  political  foes),  and 
carried  the  measure.  Next  week,  in  the  railway  train, 
Dr.  Howe  found  Gushing  sitting  solitary  ;  went  up  to 
him  and  thanked  him  warmly  for  his  timely  aid. 
"  Dr.  Howe,"  said  Gushing,  "  you  are  a  remarkable 
man."  "You  are  pleased  to  say  so,  but  why?"  "You 
are  a  very  remarkable  man — the  only  man  in  Massa 
chusetts  that  can  see  any  good  in  what  Gen.  Gushing 
has  done."  There  was  pride  and  pathos  in  this  remark, 


CHAPTER  V. 

DR.    HOWE'S    UNIVERSAL    PHILANTHROPY. 

AT  his  death  in  1876,  funeral  honors  were  paid  to 
this  good  man,  under  the  name  of  "  The  Massachu 
setts  Philanthropist,"  not  because  he  was  the  only 
one  of  his  class  there,  where  philanthropy  is  common, 
but  because  his  philanthropy  was  universal,  and 
knew  no  limits.  He,  more  than  any  man  since  John 
Howard,  had,  like  that  English  reformer  of  prisons, 
trod  in  Howard's  "  open,  but  unfrequented  path  to 
immortality  ;  "  nor  did  he  neglect  Howard's  particu 
lar  clients,  the  wretches  in  prison.  He  joined  in  the 
movement  in  Boston  which  abolished  imprisonment 
for  debt  ;  he  was  an  early  and  active  member  of  the 
Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society,  which  once  did 
much  service ;  and  for  years,  when  interest  in  prison 
reform  was  at  a  low  ebb  in  Massachusetts,  the  one 
forlorn  relict  of  that  once  powerful  organization,  a 
"  Prisoner's  Aid  Society  "  used  to  hold  its  meetings  in 
Dr.  Howe's  spacious  chamber  in  Bromfield  street. 
He  took  an  early  interest  in  the  care  of  the  insane, 
with  which  his  friends  Horace  Mann,  Dr.  Edward 
Jarvis,  and  Dorothy  Dix  were  greatly  occupied  ;  and 
in  later  years,  as  will  be  seen,  he  introduced  some 
most  useful  methods  of  caring  for  the  insane  in  Mas- 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  17  I 

sachusetts.  He  favored  the  temperance  reform,  and 
wrote  much  as  a  physician,  on  the  harm  done  to 
individuals  and  to  the  human  stock  by  the  use  of 
alcoholic  liquors.  He  stood  with  Father  Taylor  of 
the  Seaman's  Bethel,  in  Boston,  for  the  salvation  of 
sailors  and  their  protection  from  cruel  punishments, 
and  he  was  one  of  those  who  almost  abolished  the 
flogging  of  children  in  schools.  During  his  whole 
career  as  a  reformer  of  public  schools  in  New  Eng 
land,  Horace  Mann  had  no  friend  more  intimate,  or 
more  helpful  than  Dr.  Howe,  nor  one  whose  support 
was  more  indispensable  to  Mann  himself.  To  prove 
this  much  might  be  quoted  from  Mann's  constant 
correspondence  with  Howe  between  1838  and  1869, 
when  Mann  died.  But  it  will  be  sufficient  here  to 
cite  what  Mrs.  Howe  has  written  concerning  the  two 
friends  : 

The  labors  of  Horace  Mann  in  behalf  of  public  education 
belong  to  this  period.  They  entitle  him  to  grateful  remem 
brance  in  the  community  in  which  he  became  an  apostle  of 
rational  culture.  Mr.  Mann,  like  Dr.  Howe,  was  at  once  a 
practical  and  an  ideal  philanthropist,  inspired  with  a  deep 
enthusiasm  which  expressed  itself  in  timely  words,  and  still 
more  in  deeds  of  lasting  benefit  to  humanity.  Trained  in  the 
legal  profession,  he  derived  from  it  the  clear  and  logical  modes 
of  thought  which  guided  his  public  life.  The  proper  treatment 
of  the  insane,  the  introduction  of  normal  schools  and  of  high- 
school  education  for  girls  were  matters  to  which  he  devoted 
many  years  of  his  life,  with  what  result  we  need  not  here 
relate.  The  friendship  which  united  these  two  noble  men  was 
intimate  and  lifelong.  Each  was  to  the  other  a  source  of 
inspiration.  Both  were  strenuous  opponents  of  every  enslav 
ing  agency,  and  resolute  advocates  of  principles  truly  republi 
can,  Dr.  Howe  always  spoke  of  Mr.  Mann  with  reverent 


172  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

affection.  The  writer  remembers  a  certain  very  thorough 
overhauling  of  the  public  schools  of  Boston  which  was  insti 
tuted  by  Dr.  Howe,  in  his  one  year  of  service  on  the  school 
board,1  and  regarding  which  Mr.  Mann  said :  "  It  could  only 
have  been  done  by  an  angel — or  by  Sam  Howe." 

During  all  this  unwearied  activity  Dr.  Howe  never 
neglected  his  special  task,  the  education  of  the  blind, 
and  Laura  Bridgman  ;  but  there  were  times  when  he 
sighed  for  a  furlough  in  this  unceasing  war.  His 
health,  shaken  by  fever  in  Greece,  was  never  fully 
restored,  and  he  had  moods  of  restlessness  and  depres 
sion,  in  which  his  friends  had  to  remind  him  how 
much  he  had  done,  and  what  a  career  was  still  before 
him.  In  those  periods  he  sometimes  sought  to 
escape  from  the  yoke  of  his  task  ;  the  ills  of  humanity 
were  too  much  for  him  to  bear.  Sumner  has  pre 
served  the  record  of  one  of  these  escapades,  which 
seldom  went  farther  than  to  form  and  urge  with  zeal 
a  project  that  soon  failed  or  was  abandoned.  In  the 
summer  of  1841,  when  the  Whig  party  had  come  into 
power  after  a  long  absence  from  national  office, 
and  Daniel  Webster  was  Secretary  of  State,  Howe 
was  attracted  toward  Europe  again,  which  for  nine 
years  he  had  not  seen,  and  always  towards  Southern 
Europe.  He  would  go  to  Spain  as  a  diplomatist — in 
the  hope,  I  fancy,  that  he  could  explore  in  some  old 
Spanish  library,  the  history  of  that  extraordinary 
instruction  of  the  deaf  in  Spain  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  of  which  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  described  so  fine 
an  example  in  his  Nature  of  Bodies,  and  concern 
ing  which  Juan  Pablo  Bonet  had  written  a  book. 


1  This  was  in  1845-46 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  173 

What  followed  shall  be  taken  from  a  letter  of  Charles 
Sumner  to  his  brother  George,  September  4,  1842  :  x 

My  friend  Howe,  whose  various  claims  to  public  and  pri 
vate  regard  you  recognize,  who  was  seven  years  in  Greece, 
who  was  by  the  side  of  Lafayette  during  the  Three  Days  ;  2  and 
who  has  led  a  life  of  singular  chivalry  and  philanthropy ;  in 
many  respects  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  age ; 
speaking  French,  German,  and  Greek  ;  in  a  moment  of  restless 
ness,  Howe  allowed  himself  to  apply  for  the  place  of  Secretary 
of  Legation,  at  Madrid,  a  year  ago.  His  appointment  was 
urged  by  the  warmest  letters  from  Prescott,  who  had  been 
invited  by  Webster  to  designate  some  fit  person  for  the  place ; 
Tecknor,  who  is,  perhaps,  Webster's  warmest  personal  friend  ; 
Choate,  who  has  Webster's  place  in  the  Senate,  and  Abbott 
Lawrence ;  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  application,  and 
Howe  has  regretted  very  much  that  he  brought  himself  to 
make  it." 

These  unhappy  moods  soon  passed  away,  but  they 
returned  now  and  then,  so  long  as  Dr.  Howe  con 
tinued  in  his  place  at  South  Boston — and  that  was  all 
his  life.  He  died  there  in  the  beautifully  retired 
cottage  among  the  hills  and  overlooking  an  inland  har 
bor,  where  his  garden  and  orchard  and  greenhouses 
solaced  the  hours  of  leisure — which  with  him  were 
few — where  his  children  had  grown  up  around  him, 
and  where  he  had  so  often  entertained  at  his  table 
the  famous  and  the  good  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
His  house  was  open  no  less  to  the  obscure  and  perse 
cuted,  to  the  fugitive  from  Poland  or  France,  or 


1  "  Memoir  of   Charles   Sumner,"   by    E.    L.  Pierce,  vol.    II., 
p.  222. 

2  Of  July,  1830 — the  French  Revolution,  so  styled. 


i;4  DR-  s.  G-  HOWE. 

Germany,  or  from  a  worse  tyranny  in  Carolina,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Kentucky.  Here  Longfellow  had  first  met 
Kossuth,  and  here,  a  few  years  later,  John  Brown  ate 
sparingly,  and  slept  for  a  night,  as  he  moved  from 
State  to  State,  preparing  for  some  conflict  in  Kansas 
or  Virginia.  It  \vas  fitting  that  Howe  should  return 
there  to  die,  amid  the  scenes  of  his  philanthropic 
triumphs,  and  the  garden  trees  he  had  planted. 
Dying,  his  memory  reverted  to  the  past. 

Sternitur,  et  moriens  dulces  reminiscitur  Argos. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DR.  HOWE'S   MARRIAGE    AND    VISIT    TO    EUROPE. 

IT  was  at  the  Blind  Asylum,  in  South  Boston,  and 
as  the  instructor  of  Laura  Bridgman,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  that  Miss  Julia  Ward,  of  New  York,  first 
saw  her  future  husband.  She  was  one  of  a  family  of 
three  sisters,  celebrated  in  New  York  fifty  years  ago 
as  the  "  Three  Graces  of  Bond  Street,"  where  their 
father,  Mr.  Ward,  a  banker  (of  the  once  well-known 
firm,  Prime,  Ward  &  King),  lived  elegantly,  and 
entertained  with  hospitality.  One  of  these  sisters 
married  Mr.  Maillard,  connected  with  the  Bonaparte 
family,  another,  Thomas  Crawford,  the  sculptor, 
(lather  of  Marion  Crawford,  the  novelist)  ;  but  the 
third  and  most  gifted  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Howe. 
They  spent  the  summer  of  1841  in  Dorchester,  not 
far  from  the  Blind  Asylum,  and  it  was  then,  I  sup 
pose,  that  Dr.  Howe  fell  in  love.  In  August  1842,* 


^umner,  in  a  letter  to  Longfellow,  dated  August  20,  1842, 
makes  this  odd  allusion  to  the  visit.  "At  Stockbridge  I  left  the 
girls  (his  sisters)  to  ramble  about,  while  Howe  and  I  started  on  a 
journey  to  New  York,  inchiding  Hell  Gate,  where  we  passed  the 
chief  part  of  our  time.  The  '  Three  Graces'  were  bland  and  lovely." 
As  Sumner  seldom  jested,  we  must  suppose  that  he  did  not  typify 
courtship  by  "  Hell  Gate,"  but  meant  that  they  passed  much  time 
in  excursions  on  the  East  River.  See  Memoir  of  Charles  Sunnier,  II, 
p.  220. 

(175) 


176  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

along  with  his  intimate  friend,  Charles  Sumner,  he 
visited  New  York  for  the  sake  of  meeting  Miss  Julia 
Ward,  and  the  "  engagement "  was  soon  after  an 
nounced.  They  were  married  in  April,  1843,  and 
early  in  May  sailed  for  England,  preceded  by  a  letter 
from  Sumner  to  Lord  Morpeth  (afterward  Earl  of 
Carlisle)  in  which  he  said:  "This  note  is  mainly  to 
announce  the  coming  of  my  dear  friend  Howe,  and 
his  newly  married  wife.  I  cannot  write  too  warmly 
of  Howe.  He  is  shy,  reserved,  modest,  but  full  of 
worth,  intelligence,  and  virtue.  Perhaps  you  will 
remember  his  wife,  who  is  unsurpassed  in  cultivation 
by  any  of  her  sex  in  the  United  States."  She  was 
indeed,  as  her  subsequent  life  has  shown,  a  lady  of 
rare  learning,  genius,  and  grace  of  style,  and  her 
poems  are  now  better  known  than  those  of  any  woman 
in  America.  Such  a  married  pair  could  not  fail  to 
be  well  received  wherever  they  might  go  ;  and,  with 
the  exception  of  Prussia,  which  was  closed  to  them, 
they  made  the  usual  tour  of  Europe,  spending  much 
time  in  Italy,  where  Dr.  Howe's  oldest  daughter, 
Julia  Romana,  afterwards  Mrs.  Anagnos,  was  born 
early  in  1844,  and  christened  by  Theodore  Parker, 
who  also  happened  to  be  in  Rome  that  winter.  Three 
weeks  later  Dr.  Howe  made  his  brief  visit  to  Greece, 
and  to  his  Corinthian  colony,  already  described.  He 
had  requested  Sumner  to  visit  this  colony  in  1839, 
and  had  given  him  letters  to  Tricoupi,  Mavrocordato, 
and  the  other  statesmen  of  Greece,  but  Sumner 
lingered  in  Rome,  and  never  made  the  journey. 
Returning  to  Italy  in  April,  Howe  visited  Naples,  and 
then  went  to  pass  the  summer  in  England.  He  there 
visited  Dr.  Fowler,  of  Salisbury,  a  man  "  of  a  spirit 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  177 

kindred  to  his  own."  There  also  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bracebridge,  and, 
through  them,  of  Florence  Nightingale,  not  yet 
known  to  fame,  though  even  at  that  time  a  young 
lady  much  admired  ;  having  given  evidence  of  that 
superiority  of  character  which  has  since  made  her 
name  one  of  those  most  honored  in  her  own  time. 
The  bent  of  Miss  Nightingale's  mind  in  1844  was  in 
the  direction  of  what  we  may  call  philosophical  phil 
anthropy.  She  held  many  conversations  with  Dr. 
Howe  upon  matters  of  mutual  interest,  and  one  or 
two  which  may  be  thought  to  have  determined  her 
after-life. 

It  was  perhaps  at  this  house  of  the  Bracebridges 
orat  some  other  charming  home  in  Southern  England, 
that  the  story  should  be  localized  which  I  have  heard 
Dr.  Howe  tell,  concerning  himself  and  Florence 
Nightingale.1  Always  an  early  riser,  Dr.  Howe  used 


1  Florence  Nightingale  is  a  year  or  two  younger  than  Mrs. 
Howe,  being  born  in  1820,  at  Florence,  Italy  (whence  her  name), 
the  youngest  daughter  of  an  English  banker  named  Shore,  who  to 
inherit  an  estate  took  the  name  of  Nightingale,  which  his  child  has 
made  so  illustrious.  She  was  highly  educated,  and  in  1844  might 
compare  with  Mrs.  Howe  for  her  knowledge  of  Latin,  of  French 
and  Italian,  of  German  and  of  music,  while  she  had  that  facility  in 
mathematics  which  some  women  display  so  remarkably.  But  she 
also  had  a  turn  for  active  benevolence,  and  as  a  girl  had  visited 
hospitals  and  workhouse  infirmaries,  which  was  not  then,  as  it  has 
since  become,  a  fashionable  pursuit.  She  did  not  go  through  the 
training  of  Pastor  Fliedner's  school  of  deaconesses,  however,  until 
1849,  when  she  seems  to  have  entered  steadily  on  the  work  of  her 
life.  She  became  famous  from  1854,  when  at  the  head  of  a  hundred 
nurses,  she  established  her  hospital  for  soldiers  of  the  Crimea  at 
Scutari.  She  is  still  living  (July,  1891),  but  has  long  been 
an  invalid.  Her  sister,  Lady  Verney,  died  in  1890. 


178  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

to  spend  the  time  before  breakfast  in  the  great  gar 
den  of  this  English  country-house  where  the  Howes 
and  Miss  Nightingale  were  visiting.  She  also  used 
to  come  forth  into  the  garden,  and  they  had  many 
long  talks  there,  among  the  roses  and  lilies.  In  one 
of  these  talks  the  young  lady  said  :  "  Dr.  Howe,  you 
have  had  much  experience  in  the  world  of  philan 
thropy  ;  you  are  a  medical  man,  and  a  gentleman  ; 
now  may  I  ask  you  to  tell  me,  upon  your  word, 
whether  it  would  be  anything  unsuitable  or  unbe 
coming  to  a  young  Englishwoman,  if  she  should 
devote  herself  to  works  of  charity,  in  hospitals  and 
elsewhere,  as  the  Catholic  Sisters  do?"  Dr.  Howe 
had  learned  by  this  time  the  earnest  character  of  his 
young  friend,  and  he  said  to  her  : 

"  My  dear  Miss  Florence,  it  would  be  unusual,  and, 
in  England,  whatever  is  unusual  is  apt  to  be  thought 
unsuitable  ;  but  I  say  to  you,  go  forward,  if  you  have 
a  vocation  for  that  way  of  life  ;  act  up  to  your  aspir 
ation,  and  you  will  find  that  there  is  never  anything 
unbecoming  or  unladylike  in  doing  your  duty  for 
the  good  of  others.  Choose  your  path,  go  on  with 
it,  wherever  it  may  lead  you,  and  God  be  with 
you  !" 

Miss  Nightingale  thanked  him,  and  the  matter 
dropped  ;  but  when  he  heard  afterward,  that  she  had 
become  a  hospital  nurse,  he  remembered  this  conver 
sation. 

In  the  previous  summer  of  1843,  Dr.  Howe  had 
spent  some  time  in  Great  Britain,  renewing  his 
acquaintance  with  Dr.  George  Combe,  of  Edinburgh, 
to  whom  both  he  and  his  friend  Horace  Mann  were 
warmly  attached  —both  being  then  phrenologists  and 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  179 

physiologists  of  Dr.  Combe's  school ' — and  visiting 
many  public  establishments  with  Horace  Mann.  Con 
cerning  this  fruitful  and  brilliant  season  Mrs.  Howe 
says  : 

Dr.  Howe's  bridal  journey  was  made  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  interest.  Almost  simultaneously  with  himself,  his 
dear  friend,  Horace  Mann,  had  taken  a  partner  for  life,  and  the 
voyage  to  Europe  was  made  by  the  two  couples  in  the  same 
steamer.  On  arriving  in  England,  they  occupied  for  a  time  the 
same  lodgings,  and  many  of  their  visits  to  public  institutions 
were  made  in  company.  I  remember  among  these  many 
workhouses,  schools,  and  prisons.  The  establishment  at  Pen- 
tonville  was  then  new,  and  in  great  favor.  The  Duke  of  Rich 
mond  and  Viscount  Morpeth,  afterwards  Lord  Carlisle,  were 
of  our  party  on  the  day  of  our  visiting  the  prison.  On  another 
occasion,  Mr.  Dickens  accompanied  us  to  Westminster  Bride 
well,  where  the  treadmill  was  then  in  full  operation.  He 
appeared  much  affected  at  the  sight  of  the  unfortunate  inmates, 
and  exclaimed  in  Dr.  Howe's  hearing,  "  I  cannot  blame  a 
woman  for  killing  her  own  child,  if  she  sees  that  he  will 
become  such  a  man  as  one  of  these."  The  narrative  of  Dickens 
had  made  the  case  of  Laura  Bridgman  generally  known  in  Eng 
land  and  on  the  Continent.  As  a  consequence  of  this,  on  the 
occasion  of  this  visit,  Dr.  Howe  became  the  object  of  the  most 
gratifying  attentions  from  people  foremost  in  standing  and 
desert.  Thomas  Carlyle  called  upon  him  soon  after  his  arrival 
in  London,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation  expressed  his 
amusement  at  Laura's  question  about  the  hours  kept  by 
horses  a  Sidney  Smith  spoke  of  Dr.  Howe  as  a  second  Prome- 


1  As  early  as  December,   1832,   Dr.   Howe   was  secretary   of  a 
phrenological  society  in  Boston,  where  Spurzheim  had  died. 

2  "  Do  horses  sit  up  late  ?"  asked  Laura  on  one  occasion  ;  then, 
perceiving  the  impropriety  of  her  verb,  she  said,  "  I  mean  do  horses 
stand  up  late  ?  " 


l8o  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

theus.1  The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  Lord  Hough- 
ton  (Monckton  Milnes),  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  Basil 
^Montagu,  and  the  poet  Rogers  were  among  the  pleasant 
acquaintances  made  at  this  epoch.  The  doctor  was  often 
called  upon  to  recount  the  steps  by  which  he  had  led  an  im 
prisoned  soul  from  darkness  into  light.  Dr.  Howe  kept  in 
these  new  surroundings  his  own  quiet  dignity  and  modesty. 
In  the  highest  company,  one  felt  his  height  above  that  of  other 
men.  And  this  was  shown  in  his  judgment  of  men  and  of 
things,  in  his  true  kindness  and  geniality,  and  in  his  transparent 
simplicity  and  truthfulness.  The  presence  and  praise  of  people 
of  rank  neither  uplifted  nor  abashed  him.  The  humanity  which 
he  respected  in  himself  he  regarded  equally  in  others,  but  the 
fact  itself,  not  its  adventitious  trappings,  claimed  his  service 
and  homage. 

Dr.  Howe  returned  with  his  wife  and  child  in  Sep 
tember,  1844,  and  resumed  his  place  at  South  Boston, 
and  his  laboring  oar  in  the  galley  of  reform.  He  had 
then  a  new  interest  in  the  prison  question  abroad, 
and  became  a  more  active  member  of  the  Prison 
Discipline  Society,  of  which  more  hereafter.  He 
found  his  'friend  Mann  engaged  in  a  sharp  contro 
versy  about  teaching  deaf  children  to  talk,  and  joined 
heartily  with  him  in  the  endeavor  (in  1844-45)  to 
introduce  articulation  among  the  deaf  pupils  main- 


1  Dr.  Howe  served  this  incorrigible  wit  as  a  peg  on  which  to 
hang  a  jest.  It  was  when  Smith  was  suffering  from  his  invest 
ment  in  the  repudiated  Pennsylvania  bonds,  that  they  met  at  one 
of  the  breakfasts  of  Rogers.  Smith  asked  Howe  to  hold  his 
crutches  a  moment,  and  then  said,  "  You  see  they're  all  alike  ; 
here  is  this  pleasant  American  philanthropist,  and  he  has  just  taken 
away  my  only  means  of  support."  I  suppose  Smith  could  make 
old  jokes  look  "  amaist  as  weel's  the  new." 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  l8l 

tained  by  the  State  in  the  Asylum  at  Hartford.  In 
Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Germany,  the  system  had 
already  been  fully  tried  and  established,  and  in  these 
countries  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Mann  had  found  oppor 
tunities  of  observing  pupils  in  evei'y  stage  of  vocal 
discipline,  "  from  the  simultaneous  utterance  of  unin 
telligible  sounds  to  the  very  politeness  and  perfection 
of  speech."  They  believed  in  the  system  then  ;  but 
the  innovation  was  strongly  resisted  at  that  time  and 
long  after  by  those  committed  to  the  old  method  of 
instruction,  in  which  the  language  of  arbitrary  signs 
predominated  even  over  the  use  of  the  finger  alpha 
bet.  Unable  to  convince  the  American  Asylum  at 
Hartford  of  the  propriety  of  at  least  giving  the  new 
method  a  fair  trial,  Dr.  Howe  began  upon  two  little 
deaf-mute  pupils  a  series  of  experiments,  which  finally 
had  some  share  in  leading  to  the  establishment,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Boston,  of  a  small  school  devoted 
to  the  articulate  method  of  education,  whose  teacher 
afterwards  became  the  Principal  of  the  Clark  School 
for  the  Deaf  in  Northampton.1  In  the  interim  (twenty- 
two  years)  between  his  first  efforts  to  this  end  and 
their  final  success,  Dr.  Howe  was  instrumental  in 
leading  many  mothers  of  deaf-mute  children  to  con 
duct  their  education  upon  this  principle,  the  children 
receiving  the  greater  part  of  their  education  at  home. 
"  I  have  seen  several  of  these  grown  men  and 


1  This  was  Miss  Harriet  Rogers,  whose  elder  sister,  Miss  Eliza 
Rogers,  had  been  one  of  the  teachers  at  the  Blind  Asylum,  and  had 
particular  charge  of  Oliver  Caswell.  Miss  H.  Rogers  opened  her 
school  at  Billerica  in  1864,  removed  it  to  Chelmsford  in  1865,  and 
to  Northampton  in  1867,  when  the  Clarke  Institution  opened 
there. 


l82  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

women,  able  to  mingle  in  society,  and  to  take  part 
freely  in  conversation,"  said  Mrs.  Howe  in  1876. 
Among  these  might  perhaps  be  included  Mrs.  Bell, 
the  wife  of  Prof.  A.  G.  Bell. 

In  such  labors  passed  away  the  two  years  up  to  the 
summer  of  1846,  when  this  second  period  of  Dr. 
Howe's  life  closed  and  he  began  that  third  period  of 
political  conflict,  which  lasted  for  twenty  years. 
Before  entering  upon  the  record  of  that,  let  me  cite 
what  Dr.  Hedge,  who  had  known  him  from  1832,  and 
the  poet,  Bryant,  whose  acquaintance  began  even 
earlier,  said  of  this  devoted  philanthropist,  at  his 
funeral  in  January,  1876.  Dr.  Hedge  said  : 

He  was  never  the  hero  of  his  own  tale.  I  have  talked  with 
him,  often  and  long,  and  should  never  have  guessed  from  any 
thing  that  fell  from  his  lips  that  he  had  ever  seen  Greece,  or 
lain  in  a  Prussian  prison  cell,  or  penetrated  the  three-barred 
gate  of  Laura  Bridgman's  soul.  Another  peculiarity  of  his 
enthusiasm  was  the  liberality,  the  tolerance  that  accompanied 
it.  And  this  I  believe  to  be  one  of  the  rarest  of  moral  phenom 
ena,  the  combination  of  philanthropic  enthusiasm  and  a  toler 
ant  spirit.  Excepting  him  only,  I  have  never  known  a  philan 
thropist — I  mean  an  active,  reforming  philanthropist — who 
was  also  a  fair-minded  tolerant  man.  Many  excellent,  devoted, 
self-sacrificing  men  I  have  known  of  that  vocation,  men  to 
rejoice  in  and  thank  God  for  ;  but  they  all  had  this  taint  of 
intolerance.  Not  content  with  strenuous  advocacy  of  their  own 
pet  charity,  not  content  with  active  service  in  that  cause,  they 
insisted  that  you  should  tread  their  narrow  path,  should  merge 
yourself  in  their  one  idea,  and  reviled  all  who  differed  from 
them  as  to  time  and  method,  when  even  agreed  as  to  ends. 
Advocates  of  temperance  I  have  known  who  reeled  and  stag 
gered  and  wanted  to  intoxicate  you  with  their  heady  politics  ; 
champions  of  abolition  I  have  known  who  wanted  to  fasten  the 


PHILANTHROPIC    DEVOTION.  183 

yoke  of  their  method  on  your  neck  ; *  and  even  apostles  of  non- 
resistance  who  handled  their  olive-branch  as  if  it  were  a  war- 
club.  Dr.  Howe  was  not  of  that  line.  He  was  that  excep 
tional  character,  a  tolerant  enthusiast,  a  fair  advocate  of  a  right 
eous  cause. 

Mr.  Bryant  said,  among  other  things  : 

His  place  is  in  that  class  with  which  Virgil,  by  a 
noble  climax,  closes  his  enumeration  of  the  great  and 
good  who  possess  the  Elysian  fields  —  a  passage 
which  has  been  thus  translated  : 2 

Patriots  were  there  in  freedom's  battle  slain, 

Priests,  whose  long  lives  were  closed  without  a  stain, 

Bards  worthy  him  who  breathed  the  poet's  mind, 

Founders  of  arts  that  dignify  mankind, 

And  lovers  of  our  race,  whose  labors  gave 

Their  names  a  memory  that  defies  the  grave. 

Howe  might  have  claimed  the  snowy  fillet,  under 
the  first  and  the  fourth  as  well  as  under  the  last  of 
these  qualifications. 


1  This  was  understood  and  resented  in  1876  as  applying  to  Gar 
rison,  who  lived  until  1879. 

2  "-(Eneid,"  VI,  pp.  660-664.     These  are  the  lines  : 

Hie  manus,  ob  patriam  pugnando  vulnera  passi, 
Quique  sacerdotes  casti,  dum  vita  manebat, 
Quique  pii  vates,  et  Phoebo  digna  locuti, 
Inventas  aut  qui  vitam  cxcoluere  per  artes 
Quique  sui  memores  alios  fecere  merendo. 


BOOK    THIRD. 
POLITICAL    CONFLICT. 

1846-1861. 


Nee  exstat  alia  lex  Roniae,  alia  Alhenis,  alia  nunc,  alia 
fosthaet  scd  omncs  gentes  et  omni  t  cm  pore  itna  lex  contincbit. 
Deus  legis  hujus  inventor,  disceptator,  later. 

ClCERO  (in  Lactantiui). 

Bewray  not  him  that  wandreth. 

BIBLE. 

The  blind  mole  casts 

Copped  hills  toward  heaven,  to  tell  the  earth  is  thronged 
Hy  man's  oppression,  and  the  poor  worm  dies  for't. 
Kings  are  earth's  gods  ;  in  vice,  their  law's  their  will  ; 
And  if  Jove  stray,  who  dares  say,  Jove  doth  ill  ? 

SHAKESPEARE  (Perides\ 

Till  now  you  have  gone  on  and  filled  the  time 
With  all  licentious  measure,  making  your  wills 
The  scope  of  justice  ;  till  now,  myself  and  such 
As  slept  within  the  shadow  of  your  power 
Have  wandered  with  our  arms  traversed,  and  breathed 
Our  sufferance  vainly.     Now  the  time  is  flush 
When  crouching  marrow,  in  the  bearer  strong, 
Cries  of  itself,  "  No  more  !" 

SHAKESPEARE  (Timon). 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    INSOLENCE    OF    THE    SLAVEHOLDERS. 

DR.  HOWE  had  been  bred  by  his  father  a  Jefferson- 
ian  Democrat,  like  himself.  As  a  boy  and  youth  he 
had  learned  to  dislike  the  Boston  Federalists,  and  to 
abhor  their  thinly-disguised  schemes  for  dissolving 
the  Union.  Consequently  he  paid  less  attention  than 
he  otherwise  might  have  done  to  the  growing  politi 
cal  power  and  insolence  of  the  Southern  slaveholders, 
which,  from  1820,  when  the  Missouri  Compromise 
was  forced  upon  the  North,  was  the  most  alarming 
feature  of  our  politics  ;  especially  from  1828,  when  a 
combination  of  Northern  Federalists,  with  the  Demo 
crats  of  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  the  whole 
North,  elected  Jackson  and  Calhoun  President  and 
Vice-President,  defeating  the  able  but  unskillful 
administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams — who  was 
supported  on  one  side  by  Henry  Clay,  and  on  the 
other  by  Daniel  Webster.  This  may  be  taken  as  the 
beginning  of  that  complete  control  of  the  United 
States  by  the  slave-power,  which  continued  with 
slight  mitigation  till  the  autumn  of  1860,  when  the 
insolent  demands  of  the  slaveholders  proved  too 
much  even  for  the  Democratic  demagogues  like 
Douglas,  of  Illinois,  and  caused  a  break  in  the 
dominant  party  ;  in  consequence  of  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  chosen  President,  In  these  two  and 


1 83  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

thirty  years,  from  1828  to  1860,  the  oligarchy  of  slave- 
masters  had  succeeded  in  directing  all  our  foreign 
affairs,  and  much  of  our  domestic  legislation. x  But 


1  Theodore  Parker,  speaking  in  1855,  said  :  "  For  the  last  46 
years,  Freedom  has  not  prevailed  in  a  single  instance,  while  Slavery 
has  been  eleven  times  victorious.  At  first,  indeed,  there  was  a 
struggle  for  the  mastery,  and  it  was  not  certain  which  would  pre 
vail.  It  was  a  drawn  game  until  1812  ;  but  then  Slavery  rallied  all 
its  forces,  and  conquered.  From  that  to  1855,  Slavery  has  had  the 
mastery  in  our  National  Councils.  Now  let  us  look  to  the  results. 
First,  in  the  acquisition  of  territory  :  all  that  has  been  acquired  has 
been  slave  territory.  We  bought  Florida,  annexed  Texas.  Slavery 
has  been  legislated  into  Utah,  into  New  Mexico.  California  is  a 
slave  State — not  by  its  Constitution,  but  by  a  principle  as  active  ; 
every  year  the  Legislature  votes  that  Slavery  shall  exist  there  '  one 
year  more.'  It  exists  by  sufferance,  but  exists  in  its  worst  form. 
During  all  that  time  we  have  not  acquired  any  free  territory — but, 
on  the  contrary,  have  been  very  ready  to  part  with  some  of  that  we 
had.  So,  also,  has  it  been  in  the  election  of  Presidents.  Of  the 
twelve  who  have  sat  in  the  Presidential  chair,  eight  were  born  in 
slave  States,  and  but  four  in  the  North  ;  and  none  has  been  more 
disgracefully  Pro-Slavery  than  Mr.  Pierce,  who  now  occupies  the 
position.  Five  Southern  Presidents  have  been  reflected  ;  no 
Northern  President  has  ever  filled  the  office  a  second  time.  Why? 
Because  the  South  is  our  master.  When  it  takes  a  Northern  man, 
it  first  rings  him,  to  try  how  he  sounds  ;  and  if  he  is  sufficiently 
hollow,  puts  him  in.  How  as  regards  the  Judiciary?  Thirty-five 
Judges  have  been  appointed  to  the  Supreme  Court — 19  from  the 
South,  1 6  from  the  North.  For  53  years  we  have  had  none  but 
slaveholding  Chief-Justices.  The  sine  qua  non  for  that  office  is  that 
he  should  be  sound  upon  the  subject  of  Slavery.  The  South  is  also 
master  in  the  appointment  of  diplomatic  officers.  Of  216  appointed 
to  represent  this  country,  117  have  been  chosen  from  the  South,  99 
from  the  North.  But  even  this  gives  no  fair  idea,  for  those  chosen 
from  the  North  are  generally  in  favor  of  Slavery.  If  one  of  them 
were  known  to  utter  a  word  against  that  institution  he  would  be 
quickly  recalled." 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  189 

it  does  not  appear  that  Dr.  Howe,  though  he  became 
a  "  Whig  "  and  an  opponent  of  General  Jackson,  soon 
after  his  return  from  Europe  in  1831,  took  very  active 
interest  in  the  agitation  commenced  by  Benjamin 
Lundy  and  carried  on  by  Garrison,  Whittier,  and 
their  friends  during  Jackson's  and  Van  Buren's 
administrations.  He  had  many  friends  among  the 
Southern  slaveholders  ;  he  was  indebted  to  a  Vir 
ginian,  Mr.  Rives,  for  his  release  out  of  prison  in 
1832  ;  and,  in  habits  and  tastes,  he  resembled  the 
better  examples  of  the  Southern  character.  He 
would  have  passed  anywhere  out  of  New  England  for 
a  Virginian  or  Kentuckian,  having  the  slender  and 
cavalier  grace  of  the  young  men  of  those  communi 
ties,  and  the  easy,  frank,  high-spirited,  and  courteous 
manners  that  commended  the  best  Virginians  to  the 
rest  of  mankind.  "  There  is  something  about  the 
Virginia  gentleman,"  said  Richard  Dana, x  in  1844, 
"  which  you  don't  find  elsewhere.  Plain  in  their 
dress,  simple  in  their  manners,  the  question  whether 
they  are  doing  the  right  thing,  whether  this  or  that 
is  genteel  or  not,  never  seems  to  occur  to  them."  It  was 
this  trait  in  Dr.  Howe  which  made  him  a  social  favor 
ite,  so  that  while  his  political  associates  were  ostra 
cized  in  Boston  by  the  rich  and  toryish  families,  he 
never  was.  George  Ticknor  might  declare  that 
"  Charles  Sumner  had  put  himself  outside  the  pale  of 
good  society,"  and  good  Dr.  Palfrey  might  walk  up 
Beacon  street  saying,  "  Once  I  was  invited  to  these 
fine  houses,  but  now  I  never  enter  them  ;  "  yet  Howe, 


1  "  Richard  Henry  Dana,"  by  .Charles  Francis  Adams,  vol.  I,  p. 
108. 


190  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  friend  of  Sumner,  of  Palfrey,  of  Horace  Mann, 
and  of  Theodore  Parker,  could  never  be  sent  to  Cov 
entry  ;  and  he  never  lost  his  magic  power  of  drawing 
money  from  the  purses  of  his  rich  friends  to  help  on 
his  noble  chanties. 

There  was,  in  fact,  a  latent  conservatism  in  Dr. 
Howe's  nature  which  other  conservatives  saw  and 
respected  ;  he  did  these  extrordinary  things,  they 
said,  not  because  he  had  some  ax  to  grind,  or  some 
point  to  carry,  but  because  duty  compelled  him — 
noblesse  oblige.  He  was  not  seen  beating  the  drum  or 
blowing  the  trumpet,  but  leading  the  forlorn  hope  ; 
and  when  he  entered  definitely  into  the  anti-slavery 
struggle,  as  he  did  in  1846,  by  accepting  a  nomina 
tion  for  Congress  against  Mr.  Winthrop,  he  said,  in 
signifying  his  acceptance,  that  he  thought  he  could 
fill  a  ditch  as  well  as  another  man.  He  had  long  been 
tending  toward  this  position,  but  the  time  had  till 
then  never  arrived  when  he  could  sacrifice  himself  for 
a  cause,  which  was  what  he  always  stood  ready  to  do. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  in  1845  had  greatly  stirred 
the  people  of  the  North,  who  viewed  it  as  simply  a 
measure  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  slave-power,  and 
for  extending  the  area  of  slavery.  Dr.  Howe  opposed 
it,  as  nearly  everybody  in  Boston  did  ;  but  he  was 
then  very  busy  with  the  educational  controversies  of 
his  friend  Horace  Mann,  with  the  question  of  prison 
discipline,  and  with  measures  for  the  improvement  of 
the  insane  and  the  idiotic.  He  did  not,  therefore, 
take  an  active  part  against  the  admission  of  Texas  ; 
but  so  important  was  this  act  of  the  slave-power,  as  a 
step  toward  its  great  object,  that  it  demands  a  chap 
ter  by  itself. 


CHAPTER     II. 

TEXAS,    WEBSTER,    AND    SLAVERY. 

WHEN  the  boundary  between  Louisiana  and  Mexico 
was  fixed  by  treaty  with  Spain,  during  the  Presidency 
of  Monroe,  in  1819,  the  Rio  Grande  was  not  taken 
for  a  boundary,  because  Spain  was  unwilling  to  con 
cede  it;  but  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  Secretary  of 
State,  favored  that  as  the  boundary.  This  would 
have  given  us  Texas  without  a  struggle,  and  Texas 
would  have  become,  no  doubt,  a  slave-holding  Terri 
tory  of  the  United  States.  It  joined  in  the  revolt 
against  Spain,  with  Mexico,  of  which  it  was  a 
province;  and  later,  in  the  administration  of  Jack 
son,  it  revolted  against  Mexico,  and  secured  its  inde 
pendence.  One  reason  for  this  revolt  was  to  protect 
slavery,  which  Mexico  was  inclined  to  abolish;  and 
the  result  of  Texan  independence  was  to  fasten 
slavery  upon  that  broad  land,  which  Jackson  had 
sought  to  purchase,  and  which  Calhoun  and  the  lead 
ing  slaveholders  had  determined  to  annex  to  the 
United  States.1  Their  project  was  not  favored  by 

1  Benjamin  Lund)',  the  pioneer  Abolitionist,  had  warned  the 
country  in  1836-37  against  this  plot  of  the  slaveholders  to  annex 
Texas,  and  had  several  times  visited  that  State,  while  it  was  a  part 
of  Mexico,  or  in  revolt  against  Mexico,  to  explore  its  condition, 
and  do  what  he  could  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  there.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  Lundy's  life.  See  Thomas 
Earle's  "  Life  of  Benjamin  Lundy  "  and  the  four-volume  "  Memoir 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,"  vol.  I. 


IQ2  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Van  Buren,  friendly  as  he  was  to  the  slave-power; 
but  it  was  revived  under  the  Presidency  of  John 
Tyler,  whose  Secretary  of  State  was  Daniel  Webster. 
One  reason  for  forcing  Webster  out  of  Tyler's  Cabinet 
was  to  evade  his  opposition  to  the  Texas  scheme; 
this  was  managed  by  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia, 
then  a  member  of  Congress,  who  finally  succeeded  in 
getting  Calhoun  appointed  Secretary  of  State  by 
Tyler,  in  the  year  1844.  The  effect  of  these  plots  on 
Webster  has  been  thus  described  by  his  friend, 
George  Ticknor:  l 

Mr.  Webster  said  that  one  day,  in  1844,  when  he  was  sit 
ting  with  Mr.  Upshur,  who  was  then  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Upshur  told  him  that  "  he  would  not  continue  in  office  a  fort 
night  if  he  had  not  a  particular  object  to  accomplish."  Mr. 
Webster  said,  "  I  felt  Texas  go  through  me,"  and  in  two  days 
he  knew  all  about  it.  Texas  had  anxiously  desired  the  protec 
tion  of  the  United  States  against  a  threatened  invasion  from 
Mexico,  and  had  persuaded  our  Government  to  agree  to  give 
such  protection  if  that  invasion  should  take  place.  "  We  might, 
therefore,"  Mr.  Webster  said,  "  be  in  a  war  with  Mexico  at  any 
time  ;  "  and  he  did  not  doubt  the  Administration  would  be  will 
ing  to  have  such  a  war.  He  then  went  on  and  described  the 
troubles  that  would  follow  any  great  enlargement  of  our  terri 
tory  in  the  Southern  direction.  He  thought  it  would  endanger 
the  Union.  He  became  very  much  excited  ;  he  walked  up  and 


1  See  George  T.  Curtis's  "  Life  of  Daniel  Webster,"  vol.  II, 
pp.  230-235.  Mr.  Curtis  must  also  have  known,  but  has  suppressed 
the  facts  about  Webster's  connection  with  the  Anti-Texas  Conven 
tion  of  January,  1845,  which  he  had  desired  to  call,  and  for  which 
Webster  wrote  the  earnest  anti-slavery  "address."  Mr.  C.  F. 
Adams  has  given  Mr.  S.  C.  Phillips'  version  of  this  affair  in  his 
"  Richard  H.  Dana.  A  biography,"  vol.  I,  173-  See  also  Theo 
dore  Parker's  "  Daniel  Webster"  in  "  Additional  Speeches,"  vol. 

I,  p.  212. 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  193 

down  the  room  fast  and  uneasily.  He  said  he  had  not  been 
able  to  sleep  at  night,  and  that  he  could  think  of  little  else  in 
the  day.  He  had  written  two  editorial  articles  in  the  National 
Intelligencer,  and  with  great  difficulty  had  pursuaded  Mr.  Gales 
to  insert  them,  and  to  take  full  ground  against  any  annexation 
of  Texas.  At  his  request  also,  Mr.  Winthrop  had  introduced  a 
resolution  on  the  subject  in  the  House  of  Representatives ;  and 
as  he  passed  through  New  York  he  had  engaged  Mr.  Charles 
King2  to  take  the  same  ground,  and  had  left  with  him  more  than 
one  article  to  be  published  in  the  newspaper  of  which  Mr.  King 
was  the  editor.  His  object,  he  said,  was  to  rouse  the  whole 
North  on  the  subject.  An  election  was  about  to  take  place  in 
Connecticut,  and  he  said,  if  it  was  in  his  power,  he  would  make 
the  Texas  question  an  element  in  its  decision,  "  If  I  had  the 
means  I  would  send  men  to  Connecticut,  who  should  run 
through  the  State  from  side  to  side,  with  their  arms  stretched 
out,  crying,  Texas,  Texas,"  and  he  suited  the  action  to  the 
word  in  the  most  fervent  and  impressive  manner.  Mr.  Web 
ster's  object  also  was  to  get  up  public  meetings  in  Boston  and 
elsewhere,  and,  if  possible,  to  have  a  convention  of  all  Massa 
chusetts  to  protest  against  the  annexation  of  Texas.  Mr.  Brim 
mer,  then  Mayor  of  Boston,  endeavored  to  promote  this  with  all 
his  power.  Mr.  Charles  G.  Loring  and  a  few  other  persons 
assisted  him  ;  but  persons  of  mark  and  note  in  the  Whig  party 
with  the  Atlas  newspaper  for  their  organ,  earnestly  opposed  it. 
About  this  time,  April,  1844,  I  dined  with  Mr.  Webster  at  the 


1  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  then  a  member  of  Congress  from  Boston 
(against  whom,  in   1846,  Dr.   Howe  was  nominated,  because  Mr. 
Winthrop's  course  on  the  slavery  question  was  not  satisfactory  to 
the  "Conscience  Whigs,"  of  whom  S.  C.  Phillips,  C.  F.   Adams, 
Dr.  Howe,  F.  W.   Bird,  etc.  were  the  leaders),  Abbott  Lawrence, 
Nathan  Appleton,  etc.,  were  called  "  Cotton  Whigs,"  because  their 
interests  were  bound  up  with  the  cotton  manufacture. 

2  Brother  of  John  A.  King  and  James  G.  King,  eminent  Whigs 
of  New  York,  and  son  of  Rufus  King,  the  friend  of  Hamilton.    His 
paper  was  the  New  York  American. 


194  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

table  of  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Perkins;  Mr.  N.  Appleton,1  Mr. 
Edmund  Dwight,  and  several  other  of  the  principal  Whigs  of 
Boston  were  there.  They  expressed  the  opinion  that  Texas 
would  never  be  annexed.  Mr.  Webster  said,  very  strongly,  that 
Texas  would  be  annexed  if  a  great  effort  were  not  made  at  the 
North  to  prevent  it,  and  suggested  a  public  meeting,  a  conven 
tion  of  the  State,  etc.  "  Mind,"  said  he,  striking  his  hand  on 
the  table,  "  I  do  not  say  that  Texas  will  be  annexed  within  a 
year,  but  I  do  say  I  think  I  see  how  it  can  be  done,  and  I  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Administration  sees  it  less 
clearly  than  I  do."  A  slight  laugh  followed,  expressing  an 
incredulity  not  quite  respectful,  and  the  conversation  was 
changed.  Mr.  Webster  soon  went  away  and  one  of  the  gentle 
men  said,  "  He  ought  to  come  out  for  Clay."2 

At  this  time  there  was  ill-feeling  in  Boston  against 
Webster  because  he  had  clung  to  the  weak  and 
profligate  administration  of  Tyler,  a  year  after  it  had 
broken  faith  with  its  supporters,  led  by  Clay.  No 
doubt  jealousy  of  Clay  was  one  reason  for  this 
course  on  Webster's  part.  It  threw  power  tempo- 

1  Father  of  Mrs.  Longfellow,  and  of  Thomas  Gold  Appleton,  the 
renowned  wit   of   Boston.     He  was  a  leading  "  Cotton  Whig,"  a 
merchant  and  manufacturer.     Mr.  Dwight  was  a  biother-in-law  of 
George  Bancroft,  and  the  particular  friend  both  of   Webster  and  of 
Horace  Mann,  whose  labors  in  the  cause  of  education  he  seconded 
with  liberal  gifts  of  money.     The   Atlas  supported  Clay  for  Presi 
dent,  the  Advertiser  Webster  first  and  Clay  afterward. 

2  Fie  did  "  come  out  for   Clay"  at  Baltimore  the  day  after  the 
National  Convention  had  nominated  his  rival  for  the   Presidency, 
May    2,1844.     Webster   then   said,  "  There   is   no   question   now 
before  the  country  of  public  policy  upon  which  there  is  any  differ 
ence  between  that  great  leader  of  the  Whig  party  and  myself."     It 
soon   appeared,  however,  that   Clay   favored   annexation  at  some 
future  time  ;  and  this  fact  defeated  him,  by  the  votes  of  the  "  Lib 
erty  party"  in  New  York.     It  almost  caused  a  Whig  secession  in 
Massachusetts  also. 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  IQ5 

rarily  into  the  hands  of  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  other 
opponents  of  Webster  among  the  Massachusetts 
Whigs  ;  and  it  also  drew  him  a  little  more  towards 
the  "Conscience  Whigs,"  led  by  J.  O.  Adams,  his 
son,  C.  F.  Adams,  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  Charles 
Allen,  of  Worcester,  and  other  men  of  note.  In  a 
speech  made  in  Boston,  October  5,  1844,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  that  "  old  man  eloquent,"  went  a  step  beyond 
Webster,  and  said  to  the  young  men  of  Boston  : 
"  Your  trial  is  approaching.  The  spirit  of  freedom 
and  the  spirit  of  slavery  are  drawing  together  for  the 
deadly  conflict  of  arms.  The  annexation  of  Texas  is 
the  blast  of  a  trumpet  for  a  foreign,  civil,  servile,  and 
Indian  war,  of  which  the  Government  of  your  country, 
fallen  into  faithless  hands,  has  already  thrice  given 
the  signal — first  by  a  shameless  treaty,  rejected  by  a 
virtuous  Senate  l — and  again  by  the  glaive  of  defi 
ance,  hurled  by  the  apostle  of  nullification  a  at  the 
avowed  policy  of  the  British  Empire  peacefully  to 
promote  the  extinction  of  slavery  throughout  the 
world."  But  Webster  himself  was  then  an  opponent  of 
slavery,  and  therefore  the  next  step  of  his  in  this  Texas 
affair  was  but  natural,  and  would  have  done  Webster 
great  honor,  could  he  have  had  the  courage  to  follow 
it  up.  The  time  is  the  winter  of  1844-45,  Just  after 


1  This  was  Calhoun's  first  scheme  for  annexing  Texas,  sub- 
mittted  in  the  form  of  a  treaty  before  the  Presidential  election, 
and  rejected  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one.  After  the  election  of  1844, 
Texas  was  annexed  by  joint  resolution  of  Congress — a  very 
unconstitutional  procedure. 

2Calhoun  is  here  meant,  who  took  offence  at  Lord  Aberdeen's 
official  utterances  on  the  slave-trade,  and  announced  that  the 
United  States  protected  slavery. 


196  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  defeat  of  Clay  at  the  November  election,  and  the 
narrator  is  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  of  Salem,  a  former 
Congressman  from  the  Essex  district.  I  quote  from 
the  diary  of  1850  in  Adams's  "  Life  of  Dana,"  to  whom 
Mr.  Phillips  told  the  story  : 

Webster  had  left  Tyler's  cabinet,  and  was  out  of  office,  and 
rather  out  of  favor  with  the  Whig  leaders  in  the  State  for 
having  stayed  so  long  by  Tyler,  but,  without  doubt,  supported 
by  the  people.1  Mr.  Phillips  had  been  his  warm  and  somewhat 
confidential  friend.  He  found  Webster  fully  and  deeply  inter 
ested  in  the  movement  against  annexation.  Webster  advised 
that  a  convention  be  called  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and  an  address  to 
the  people  prepared,  as  the  first  step  towards  rousing  the 
North.  Mr.  Phillips  reminded  him  that  it  was  an  important 
movement,  on  which  the  political  fate  of  themselves  and  the 
party  might  hang,  and  that  they  must  be  assured  of  his  sup 
port.  He  never  will  forget  Webster's  reply:  "  If  there  is  any 
influence  in  the  name  of  Daniel  Webster,  as  some  persons  have 
said,  you  shall  have  it  all !  By  this  head  and  this  heart  "  (suit 
ing  the  action  to  the  word),  "if  there  is  any  strength  in  this 
old  arm,2  it  is  all  devoted  to  your  cause."  Mr.  Phillips  then 


1  He  was,  in  fact,  chosen  Senator  this  same  winter  by  the  State 
Legislature  in  the  place  of  Rufus  Choate,  who  had  resigned;  and 
there  was  no  serious  opposition  to  him  in  that  body.  Parker  says, 
in  his  funeral  sermon  on  Webster  (1852):  "  He  prepared  some  por 
tions  of  the  address  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Texas  Convention  in 
1845;  but  as  some  of  the  leading  Whigs  of  the  North  opposed 
that  meeting,  and  favored  annexation,  he  did  not  appear  at  the 
convention,  but  went  off  to  New  York."  This  fact  Parker  had 
from  C.  F.  Adams,  I  suppose. 

a  Webster  was  at  this  time  nearly  63  years  old;  he  was  born 
Jan.  18,  1782,  and  died  Oct.  24,  1852.  He  had  just  been  through 
the  campaign  of  1844,  making  speeches  for  Clay  in  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  and,  in  fact,  was  strong  and  active, 
as  the  next  six  years  of  his  life  showed.  The  above  conversation 
probably  occurred  at  the  Tremont  House,  Boston. 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  IQ7 

wrote  the  call  for  the  convention,  which  Mr.  Webster  revised 
and  approved,  and  it  was  taken  round  for  signatures.  Then 
they  found  that  a  certain  number  of  leading  Whigs,  repre 
sented  by  Abbott  Lawrence  and  Nathan  Appleton  (since  called 
the  "  Cotton  WThigs ")  were  indifferent  to  the  subject,  and 
averse  to  any  action.  Their  general  motives  were  well  known. 
With  some  of  them  there  was  an  additional  special  motive  of 
unwillingness  to  cooperate  with  Webster  in  a  movement  that 
might  redound  to  his  credit.  Mr.  Lawrence,  in  giving  his  final 
refusal,  said,  "  No,  sir;  we  will  not  help  Daniel  Webster  to 
right  himself  by  this  Texas  movement."  At  the  same  time 
Mr.  Webster's  New  York  friends,  hearing  of  the  movement, 
became  alarmed,  and  wrote  to  Webster,  begging  him  not  to 
commit  himself  and  the  Whig  party  of  New  England  to  it ; 
that  it  would  alienate  the  South,  and  seal  the  alliance  between 
the  South  and  the  Northern  Democracy ;  that  the  leading 
Whigs  of  Boston  would  not  stand  by  him,  and  that  there  was 
not  sufficient  anti-Texas  feeling  in  the  North  to  be  the  basis  of 
his  political  action.  These  letters,  and  the  coldness  of  the 
Cotton  Whigs,  evidently  deterred  Mr.  Webster,  and  when  he 
was  asked  to  sign  the  call  for  the  convention  (January,  1845), 
he  held  back.  Judge  Allen,1  with  his  characteristic  intrepidity, 
put  Webster's  name  to  it,  and  told  him  it  should  be  published, 
and  he  might  take  it  back  if  he  dared.  It  was  thus  only  that 
Webster's  name  appeared.  As  the  time  drew  near  for  the 
convention,  they  found  Mr.  Webster  more  and  more  backward. 
They  got  him  to  work  on  the  address  on  Monday,  two  days 


1  Afterwards  member  of  Congress  from  the  Worcester  district, 
and  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  Whig  Convention  of  1848,  who 
refused  to  support  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor  for  President. 
Charles  Allen  was  an  excellent  lawyer,  a  firm  and  upright  judge, 
a  great  favorite  with  Webster,  and  very  popular  in  his  district.  He 
joined  in  the  nomination  of  Van  Buren  and  Adams  as  the  "  Free- 
Soil"  candidates,  and  this  made  certain  the  election  of  General 
Taylor. 


198  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

before  the  convention.1  It  was  written  in  Webster's  office,  he 
dictating  and  Mr.  Phillips  and  Judge  Allen  writing ;  he  divided 
the  objections  into  heads,  and  took  them  up  separately,  leaving 
slavery  to  the  last.  When  he  came  to  this  head,  he  paused 
and  became  very  solemn,  and  told  them  frankly  he  did  not 
know  what  to  do.  He  stated  the  position  of  the  question,  the 
state  of  parties,  the  division  among  the  Whigs,  etc.,  and  went 
no  farther.  All  they  could  get  from  him  was  a  promise  to  con 
sider  it,  and  to  meet  them  Tuesday  afternoon.  At  that  time 
they  received  a  note  from  him,  saying  that  a  case  in  which  he 
was  engaged  obliged  him  to  be  in  New  York  the  next  day — 
that  he  left  that  afternoon — that  the  business  was  in  excellent 
hands,  which  could  manage  far  better  than  he  could  ;  he  wished 
them  Godspeed,  etc. 

This  account  by  Mr.  Dana  is  not  wholly  correct. 
The  manuscript  of  the  address,  which  is  mainly  as  it 
left  Mr.  Webster's  hands,  and  was  so  printed,  is 
partly  in  Mr.  Webster's  handwriting,  and  wholly  of 
his  composition.  I  have  seen  the  manuscript  and 
compared  it,  at  various  points,  with  the  copy  printed 
in  February,  1845.  It  may  be  that  a  few  passages 
here  and  there  never  received  Mr.  Webster's  final 
revision;  but  most  of  it  shows  the  marks  of  great 
care  in  its  preparation,  and  equally  of  Webster's 
simple  but  ponderous  style.  As  it  has  never  been 
publicly  acknowledged  as  his,  I  here  give  it  almost 
in  full,  to  show  where  he  stood  in  1844-45  : 


1  The  convention  was  called,  and  met  Wednesday,  Jan.  29,  1845; 
its  president  was  John  M.  Williams,  an  old  judge,  and  among  its 
secretaries  were  George  T.  Curtis  and  John  G.  Whittier.  Among 
the  delegates  was  W.  L.  Garrison,  whose  disunion  resolutions  were 
voted  down,  although  he  had  many  supporters.  See  "  Memoir  of 
Garrison,"  vol.  Ill,  p.  136.  Webster's  name  headed  the  signers  of 
the  call  from  Plymouth  County,  and  George  Ticknor  also  signed. 


POLITICAL  CONFLICT.  199 

FROM   WEBSTER'S   ADDRESS    TO   THE    PEOPLE    OF   THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

(January  29,  1845.) 

It  is  a  fundamental  maxim  of  all  American  Constitutions, 
that  the  people  are  the  only  rightful  source  of  political  power ; 
that  government  is  a  delegated  and  limited  trust ;  that  all 
authority  not  conferred  is  reserved ;  and  that,  in  fact,  there  are 
grave  questions,  lying  deeper  than  the  organized  forms  of  gov 
ernment,  and  over  which  government,  in  none  of  its  branches, 
has  just  control.  When,  in  the  course  of  events,  a  question  of 
this  kind  arises,  it  is  fit  to  be  examined,  and  must  be  examined, 
by  the  people  themselves,  and  considered  and  decided  by  an 
enlightened  and  conscientious  exercise  of  public  judgment,  and 
a  full  and  determined  expression  of  the  public  will. 

It  is,  perhaps,  a  matter  of  necessity,  that  those  to  whom 
power  is  confided,  under  a  free  constitution,  must  be  left,  in 
ordinary  cases,  to  be  judges  themselves  of  the  limits  imposed 
on  their  own  authority,  subject  to  such  checks  and  balances  as 
the  framers  of  government  may  have  provided.  But  in  times 
of  great  excitement,  of  political  party  heat,  in  times  when 
men's  passions  strengthen  dangerously  the  natural  tendency 
of  all  power  to  enlarge  its  limits  by  construction  and  infer 
ence,  by  plausible  arguments  and  bad  precedents;  in  such 
times  it  behooves  the  great  constituent  body  to  put  forth  its 
own  power  of  investigation  and  decision,  and  to  judge  for 
itself,  whether  its  agents  are  about  to  transcend  their  authority, 
and  abuse  their  trust. 

Such  an  inquiry  is  presented  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  by  the  project  broached  last  year,  and  now  zealously 
and  hotly  pursued,  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  United  States. 
This  question  transcends  all  the  bounds  of  ordinary  political 
topics.  It  is  not  a  question  how  the  United  States  shall  be 
governed,  but  what  shall  hereafter  constitute  the  United 
States ;  it  is  not  a  question  as  to  what  system  of  policy  shall 
prevail  in  this  country,  but  what  the  country  itself  shall  be. 


200  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

It  is  a  question  which  touches  the  identity  of  the  Republic. 
The  inquiry  is,  whether  we  shall  remain  as  we  have  been  since 
1789,  or  whether  we  shall  now  join  another  people  to  us,  and 
mix,  not  only  our  interests,  hopes,  and  prospects,  but  our  very 
being,  with  another,  and  a  foreign  State.  This  fearful  proposi 
tion  must  awaken,  and  we  are  glad  to  know  does  awaken,  a 
deep  and  intense  feeling  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  coun 
try.  It  touches  reflecting  minds  to  the  very  quick,  because  it 
appears  to  them  to  strike  at  foundations,  to  endanger  first 
principles,  and  to  menace,  in  a  manner,  well  calculated  to 
excite  alarm  and  terror,  the  stability  of  our  political  institu 
tions. 

We  regard  the  scheme  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  United 
States,  as  being : 

1.  A  plain  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

2.  As  calculated  and  designed,  by  the  open  declaration  of 
its  friends,  to  uphold  the  interests  of  slavery,  extend  its  influ 
ence,  and  secure  its  permanent  duration. 

I.  There  is  no  constitutional  power  in  any  branch  of  the 
Government,  or  all  the  branches  of  the  Government,  to  annex 
a  foreign  State  to  the  Union. 

The  successful  termination  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  left 
the  old  thirteen  States  free  and  independent,  although  united 
in  a  common  confederacy.  Some  of  these  States  possessed  a 
large  tract  of  territory,  lying  within  the  limits  of  their  respec 
tive  charters  from  the  Crown  of  England,  not  as  yet  cultivated 
or  settled.  Before  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  it 
is  well  known  these  States  had  made  extensive  grants  of  this 
territory  to  the  United  States,  with  the  main  original  purpose 
of  disposing  of  the  same  for  the  payment  of  the  debt  of  the 
Revolution.  The  cession  of  Virginia,  to  whom  much  the  largest 
portion  of  this  territory  belonged,  being  all  the  land  within  her 
original  charter,  was  made  in  1784;  and  it  was  the  express 
condition  of  that  grant,  that  the  ceded  territory  should  be  laid 
out  and  formed  into  States,  each  to  be  of  suitable  extent,  not 
less  than  a  hundred  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
square. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  2OI 

At  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  these  territories 
belonged  to  the  United  States,  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  bound  to  make  provision  for  their  admission 
into  the  Union,  as  States,  so  soon  as  they  should  become  prop 
erly  settled  and  peopled  for  that  purpose.  For  the  govern 
ment  of  this  territory  the  memorable  ordinance  of  July,  1787, 
was  passed,  and  constituted  the  public  law  of  the  country  un 
til  the  present  Constitution  was  adopted.  It  became  then  a 
part  of  the  duty  of  the  framers  of  that  instrument  to  make 
provision  suitable  to  the  subject.  The  Constitution  declares, 
therefore,  "  that  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory 
of  the  United  States."  This  gave  the  authority  of  governing 
the  territory,  as  territory,  while  it  remained  such.  And  in  the 
same  article  it  is  provided  as  follows  : 

Article  4,  Sec.  3.  "  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Con 
gress  into  this  Union  ;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State,  nor  any  State  be  formed 
by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  States  concerned,  as  well  as 
of  the  Congress." 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  read  this  clear  and  exact  provision, 
without  seeing  that  Congress  had  in  view  two  forms  in  which 
new  States  might  be  created  and  admitted  into  the  Union. 
ist,  They  might  be  created  out  of  the  territory  which  the 
United  States  possessed,  and  in  regard  to  which  the  original 
stipulation  was,  that  it  should  be  formed  into  States  in  due 
time,  and  those  States  admitted  into  the  Union.  2d,  New 
States  might  be  formed  by  the  division  of  an  existing  State,  or 
by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States  ;  but 
in  this  case  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  States  con 
cerned  was  made  necessary,  as  well  as  that  of  Congress.  It 
is  plain  and  manifest  that  in  all  this  there  is  not  the  slightest 
view  towards  any  future  acquisition  of  territory. 

A  treaty  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States, 
was  negotiated  last  year  (1844),  between  the  President  of  the 


2O2  DR.    S.    G      HOWE. 

United  States,  and  the  Texan  Government,  and  laid  before  the 
Senate,  for  its  constitutional  ratification,  at  the  last  session  of 
Congress.  It  was  sent,  like  any  other  treaty,  and  required,  of 
course,  the  concurrence  of  the  same  proportion  of  Senators  as 
other  treaties  require,  to  wit,  two-thirds  of  all  present.  A  con 
fidence,  very  ill-founded,  as  events  have  shown,  has  been  already 
expressed,  and  signified  to  Texas,  that  the  concurrence  of  that 
number  of  Senators  was  certain.  After  many  weeks  of  debate, 
the  treaty  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  thirty-five  to  sixteen — it 
thus  appearing  that  not  only  had  two-thirds  of  the  Senators 
not  voted  for  it,  but  that  two-thirds  had  voted  against  it.  Here 
was  supposed  to  be  an  end  of  the  treaty,  but  no  sooner  was 
Congress  assembled,  at  its  present  session,  than  a  joint  reso 
lution  was  introduced,  declaring  that  this  treaty,  the  ratifica 
tion  of  which  had  thus  been  decisively  refused  by  the  Senate, 
the  only  body  which  could  constitutionally  give  it  ratification, 
should,  nevertheless,  become  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
This  resolution  is  now  pending,  modified  in  its  form,  but  pro 
viding  substantially  for  the  same  object ;  it  has  already  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  should  it  pass  both  Houses, 
then  an  attempt  will  have  been  made  and  will  have  succeeded, 
so  far  as  the  forms  of  law  are  concerned,  to  ratify  a  treaty  by 
mere  majorities  of  both  Houses,  instead  of  the  constitutional 
authority  of  the  Senate. 

We  know  not  on  what  occasion  bad  objects  have  been  more 
emphatically  pursued  by  bad  means,  or  in  which  the  reckless 
ness  of  the  original  purpose  has  been  followed  up  by  grosser 
disregard  of  all  constitutional  and  just  restraint.  If  this  prece 
dent  prevail,  the  treaty-making  power,  as  established  by  the 
Constitution,  is  at  an  end.  It  will  be  no  longer  for  the  Senate, 
the  great  conservative  and  most  permanent  body  of  the  govern 
ment,  to  act  deliberately  and  gravely  on  treaties  with  foreign 
States,  to  judge  of  them  in  the  light  of  its  own  wisdom,  and 
under  the  responsibility  of  its  own  high  character,  and  to  grant 
its  ratification,  if  the  constitutional  number  of  Senators  present 
concur.  The  ratification  of  treaties  will  become  the  business 
of  party  majorities,  temporary  majorities,  it  may  be  bare  major- 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  203 

ities,  of  the  two  Houses,  acting  under  the  influences,  and  liable 
to  all  the  errors,  which  may  occasionally  affect  the  proceedings 
of  such  numerous  assemblies. 

II.  "Annexation  is  designed  and  calculated,  by  the  open 
declaration  of  its  friends,  to  uphold  the  interests  of  slavery, 
extend  its  influence,  and  secure  its  permanent  duration." 

The  frankness  of  this  avowal  supersedes  the  necessity  of  any 
attempt  to  strip  off  disguises,  or  to  bring  hidden  and  concealed 
motives,  into  the  light.  There  is  no  disguise,  the  motives  are 
all  confessed.  They  are  boldly  avowed  to  the  country  and  the 
v/orld  ;  and  the  question  is  therefore  open,  visible,  naked,  and  in 
its  true  character,  before  the  American  people. 

When  the  treaty  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  it  was  accompan 
ied  by  an  elaborate  message  from  the  President,  setting  forth 
its  character  and  objects.  It  was  accompanied  by  parts, 
though  meagre  and  scanty  parts,  of  the  correspondence  which 
had  preceded  its  conclusion.  Repeated  and  persevering  calls 
of  the  Senate  produced,  at  subsequent  periods,  other  and  much 
more  important  parts  of  that  correspondence.  Since  the  rejec 
tion  of  the  treaty,  the  Secretary  of  State  has  continued  to 
address  our  public  Ministers  abroad  upon  the  subject ;  and  the 
country  has  now  before  it  a  mass  of  correspondence,  between 
the  Government  in  Washington  and  its  diplomatic  agents 
abroad,  and  between  these  agents  and  the  Governments  of  Mex 
ico  and  Texas.  How  far  that  correspondence,  taken  together^ 
Exhibits  ability,  dignity,  self-respect,  and  respect  for  the  rights 
of  others ;  how  far  its  general  character,  reflects  honor  and 
credit  on  the  Government  of  this  country,  we  willingly  abstain 
from  undertaking  to  show.  We  refer  to  it  now  only  as  con 
taining  those  open  confessions  and  avowals,  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken,  of  the  purpose  with  which  annexation  has  been 
proposed,  and  is  now  pursued  with  such  unwearied  persever 
ance. 

Here,  then,  is  a  spectacle,  in  our  judgment,  a  sad  spectacle, 
not  only  for  the  contemplation  of  our  own  country,  but  for 
that  of  the  whole  civilized  world.  These  advocates  of  annex 
ation  insist  that  not  only  is  slavery  an  institution  desirable  in 


234  DR<    S'    G-    HOWE. 

itself,  fit  to  be  retained,  and  necessary  to  be  maintained  as  a 
blessing  to  man,  but  they  seem  to  insist,  also,  that  a  leading 
object  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  to  guard 
it,  defend  it,  and  assure  its  perpetual  duration.  Let  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  country  be  vindicated  from  this  imputation  ; 
let  its  objects  and  its  purposes,  it  ends  and  its  means,  be 
clearly  stated,  and  then  no  lover  of  human  liberty  will  feel 
disposed  to  turn  his  back  upon  it  with  disrespect.  .  .  . 

The  States  in  which  involuntary  servitude  existed  were  not 
called  upon  to  abolish  servitude  before  they  could  be  admit 
ted  into  the  Union  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  proposed 
government  to  be  called  upon  to  fortify  the  laws  of  the  States, 
creating  or  establishing  this  involuntary  servitude,  by  any  in 
terposition  of  its  authority,  or  any  guaranty  or  assurance 
whatever.  It  pledged  itself,  indeed,  to  exercise  its  authority  to 
suppress  insurrections,  but  this  provision  was  as  applicable  to 
one  State  as  another.  There  is  reason,  however,  to  believe 
that  at  that  time  there  existed  amongst  the  citizens  of  the 
country  generally,  even  amongst  those  of  the  slave-holding 
States  themselves,  a  belief  that  slavery  was  on  the  wane ;  that 
new  views  of  political  economy  and  of  general  interest  would 
lead  to  the  supplying  of  its  place  by  free  labor  ;  and  it  may  be 
added,  with  entire  truth,  that  the  successful  termination  of  the 
war  which  had  been  waged  for  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man 
had  impressed  a  general  expectation  that  the  political  libera 
tion  of  the  country  from  foreign  dominion  would  tend  to  pro 
duce  dispositions  favorable  to  a  change  of  the  relation  between 
the  black  and  the  white  races  ;  a  change  which,  commencing 
with  mitigation,  and  proceeding  gradually  and  with  safety  from 
step  to  step,  might  eventually  terminate  in  a  total  abolition  of 
slavery. 

Soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  it  was  declared 
by  George  Washington  to  be  "  among  his  first  wishes  to  see 
some  plan  adopted  by  which  slavery  might  be  abolished  by 
law  "  ;  and  in  various  forms,  in  public  and  private  communica 
tions,  he  avowed  his  anxious  desire  that "  a  spirit  of  humanity," 
prompting  to  "  the  emancipation  of  the  slave,"  "  might  diffuse 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  205 

itself  generally  into  the  minds  of  the  people  ;  "  and  he  gave  the 
assurance  that  "  so  far  as  his  own  suffrage  could  go,"  his  influ 
ence  would  not  be  wanting  to  accomplish  this  result.  By  his 
last  will  and  testament  he  provided  that  "  all  his  slaves  should 
receive  their  freedom,"  and,  in  terms  significant  of  the  solicitude 
he  felt  upon  the  subject,  he  "  most  pointedly  and  most  solemnly 
enjoined  upon  his  executors  to  see  that  the  clause  respecting 
the  slaves,  and  every  part  thereof,  be  religiously  fulfilled,  with 
out  evasion,  neglect,  or  delay."  No  language  can  be  more  ex 
plicit,  more  emphatic,  or  more  solemn,  than  that  in  which 
Thomas  Jefferson,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
unformly  declared  his  opposition  to  slavery.  "  I  tremble  for 
my  country,"  said  he,  "  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just — that 
his  justice  cannot  sleep  forever."  "  The  Almighty  has  no  at 
tribute  which  can  take  side  with  us  in  such  a  contest."  In 
reference  to  the  state  of  public  feeling,  as  influenced  by  the 
Revolution,  he  said,  "  I  think  a  change  already  perceptible  since 
the  origin  of  the  Revolution ; "  and  to  show  his  own  view  of 
the  proper  influence  of  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution  on  slavery, 
he  proposed  the  searching  question  :  "  Who  can  endure  toil, 
famine,  stripes,  imprisonment,  and  death  itself,  in  vindication 
of  his  own  liberty,  and  the  next  moment  be  deaf  to  all  those 
motives  whose  power  supported  him  through  his  trial,  and  in 
flict  on  his  fellow-men  a  bondage,  one  hour  of  which  is  fraught 
with  more  misery  than  ages  of  that  which  he  rose  in  rebellion 
to  oppose  ?  "  "  We  must  wait,"  he  added,  "  with  patience,  the 
workings  of  the  overruling  Providence,  and  hope  that  that  is 
preparing  the  deliverance  of  these  our  suffering  brethren. 
When  the  measure  of  their  tears  shall  be  full — when  their  tears 
shall  have  involved  Heaven  itself  in  darkness,  doubtless  a  God 
of  justice  will  awaken  to  their  distress,  and  by  diffusing  light 
and  liberality  among  their  oppressors,  or  at  length,  by  his  ex 
terminating  thunder,  manifest  his  attention  to  things  of  this 
world,  and  that  they  be  not  left  to  the  guidance  of  blind 
fatality  !  "  Towards  the  close  of  his  life  Mr.  Jefferson  made  a 
renewed  and  final  declaration  of  his  opinion  by  writing  thus  to 
a  friend :  "  My  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  the  slavery  of 


206  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

negroes  have  long  since  been  in  possession  of  the  public,  and 
time  has  only  served  to  give  them  stronger  root.  The  love  of 
justice  and  the  love  of  country  plead  equally  the  cause  of  these 
people ;  and  it  is  a  moral  reproach  to  us  that  they  should  have 
pleaded  it  so  long  in  vain,  and  should  have  produced  not  a 
single  effort — nay,  I  fear,  not  much  serious  willingness,  to 
relieve  them  and  ourselves  from  our  present  condition  of 
moral  and  political  reprobation." 

It  is  manifest,  then,  that  neither  any  specific  provision  of  the 
Constitution  nor  anything  to  be  gathered  from  its  general 
intent,  or  any  sentiment  or  opinion  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
framed  it,  and  who  were  among  the  greatest  men  of  the  coun 
try  at  the  time,  can  warrant  the  belief  that  more  was  expected 
of  the  Constitution,  and  the  Government  to  be  established 
under  it,  than  the  prevention  of  the  further  importation  of 
slaves  from  Africa,  leaving  the  States  where  it  already  existed 
to  deal  with  it  as  an  affair  of  their  own ;  and  it  is  equally  man 
ifest  that  the  hopes  of  the  wise  and  the  good,  the  most  ardent 
wishes  of  the  most  influential  and  patriotic  men  in  the  country, 
looked  not  to  the  further  increase  and  extension  of  slavery,  but 
to  its  gradual  abolition  ;  and  the  highest  intellects  of  the  coun 
try  were  exercised  in  the  contemplation  of  means  by  which  that 
abolition  might  be  best  effected.  As  significant  of  the  fact 
that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  considered  domestic 
slavery  a  condition  of  things  which  would  be  of  temporary 
duration,  we  ask  your  attention  to  this  circumstance.  While 
the  Constitution  contains  provisions  adapted  to  the  actual  con 
dition  of  the  Southern  States,  and  to  the  servitude  which 
existed  there,  it  does  not  once  recognize  slavery  in  terms. 
The  word  slave  is  not  to  be  found  in  that  document.  That 
the  omission  is  not  accidental  would  be  clearly  and  necessarily 
inferred  from  the  careful  circumlocution  by  which  this  class  of 
persons  is  provided  for,  without  being  named. 


The  theory  that  the  Constitution  u<as  made  for  the  preserva 
tion,  encouragement ',  and  expansion  of  slavery  ;  that  every  new 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  207 

acquisition  which  freedom  should  make  on  her  own  soil, 
through  the  blessings  of  heaven  iipon  toil  and  enterprise, 
should  be  counterbalanced  by  the  incorporation  into  the  body 
politic  of  an  equal  portion  of  exotic  slavery;  and  that  the 
decline  of  the  latter,  through  the  operation  of  beneficent  causes, 
kindly  placed  beyond  the  control  of  man,  should  be  retarded  by 
subjecting  to  its  desolating  influence  new  regions,  acquired  by 
purchase,  or  fraud,  or  force,  dates  its  discovery  from  a  period 
long  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  the  Government. 

We  read  on  the  first  page  of  the  Constitution,  the  words, 
"  To  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  themselves  and  their  posterity." 
These  are  the  declared  objects  for  which  the  Government  was 
ordained.  Are  any  of  these  ends  promoted  by  the  extension  of 
slavery  ?  We  ask  the  advocates  of  the  extension  of  slavery, 
which  of  the  great  objects  of  the  Union  they  expect  to  pro 
mote  by  the  success  of  their  undertaking  ?  That  the  cause  of 
justice  is  not  advanced,  by  the  subjugation  of  one  portion  of  the 
human  race  to  the  despotic  power  and  absolute  will  of  another 
portion  is  a  proposition,  in  the  abstract,  so  absolutely  true,  that 
its  denial,  in  few  and  remarkable  instances,  is  regarded  by  the 
common  understanding  of  mankind  as  the  melancholy  proof  of 
a  disordered  intellect. 

.  .  .  If,  then,  justice  condemns  this  measure  of  the 
administration,  as  being  at  war  with  all  its  purposes,  we  shall 
look  in  vain,  through  this  instrumentality,  for  the  attainment 
of  any  constitutional  object  whatever.  We  will  not  ask,  lest 
the  inquiry  should  seem  to  be  made  in  derision,  if  "the  bles 
sings  of  liberty  "  are  to  be  secured  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
limits  of  slavery,  and  the  augmentation  of  its  power.  That 
"  domestic  tranquility  "  will  not  be  promoted  by  the  increased 
strength  of  its  disturbing  cause ;  and  that  the  safety  of  a 
nation  in  war  will  not  be  increased  by  the  presence  of  a 
domestic  enemy  which  holds  motionless  the  arm  that  would  be 
raised  for  its  defence,  are  propositions  admitting  neither  argu 
ment  nor  denial. 


208  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Will  the  South  disregard  all  remonstance,  and  press  on  to 
its  consummation  this  deed  of  atrocious  wrong  ?  When  the 
Constitution  was  framed,  we  have  seen  that  there  was  harmony 
of  sentiment  among  intelligent  men  in  all  sections  of  the  coun 
try  respecting  the  injurious  influences  of  slavery.  Nowhere  do 
we  find  its  evils  more  faithfully  portrayed  than  in  the  speeches 
and  writings  of  eminent  men  belonging  to  the  slave-holding 
States  in  the  early  period  of  our  history.  The  opinions  they 
expressed  of  slavery  have  been  verified  at  each  step  in  the 
progress  of  the  nation.  Withering  every  interest  it  touches  ; 
paralyzing  the  strength  of  States  yet  in  their  youth  ;  more  deso 
lating  than  blight  or  mildew  to  the  soil  that  sustains  it ;  in  all 
ages  and  countries,  the  wrong  done  to  the  nature  of  man,  when 
he  is  subject  to  involuntary  servitude,  is  avenged  by  the  wide 
spread  ruin  his  reluctant  service  repays.  For  this  unhappy 
condition  of  society  the  remedy  sought  to  be  applied  can  only 
aggravate  the  mischief  it  would  remove.  To  eradicate  the  evil, 
not  to  disseminate  it,  is  the  dictate  both  of  wisdom  and  philan 
thropy. 

But,  whatever  maybe  the  policy  of  the  Southern  States  upon 
the  question  of  annexation,  surely  the  appeal  to  the  people  of  the 
free  States  will  not  be  made  in  vain.  Not  only  the  highest 
obligations  of  duty  bind  them  to  oppose,  with  all  their  energies, 
the  extension  of  a  vast  moral,  political,  and  social  evil,  but  it  is 
clear  that  no  other  course  is  consistent  with  mere  self-preser 
vation.  Their  consent  is  demanded  to  the  introduction  into  this 
Union  of  slave  States,  to  be  formed  out  of  foreign  territory. 
And  for  what  end  is  this  demand  made  ?  The  object  is  undis 
guised.  The  purpose  is  single.  //  is  to  control  their  policy,  to 
make  the  interests  of  free  labor  subservient  to  the  necessities  of 
an  artificial,  unthrifty,  unnatural  and  unjust  condition  of 
society.  It  is  to  force  industry  out  of  the  paths  which  lead  to 
abundance  and  prosperity,  because  those  paths  are  open  only  to 
the  feet  of  free  men.  During  the  whole  existence  of  the 
General  Government,  hitherto,  Southern  principles  have  had  an 
almost  unbroken  sway.  This  has  been  felt  in  ruinous  changes 
of  public  policy,  seemingly  capricious,  but  really  intended,  in 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  209 

all  its  changes,  to  discourage  the  industry  of  the  free  States, 
derange  their  business,  and  depress  t/iein  to  the  level  of  com 
munities  in  which  all  labor  is  held  to  be  degrading,  except 
that  which  is  extorted  from  unwilling  hands,  by  the  lash  of 
usurped  autJiority.^ 

It  has  been  perceived  that  the  night  of  this  iron  dominion 
was  passing  away.  The  energies  of  free  men,  put  forth  in  sub 
mission  to  the  laws  of  Providence,  have  overcome  all  obsta 
cles,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  growth,  prosperity,  and  power 
of  the  free  States.  No  sooner  is  that  power  beginning  to  be 
felt  in  the  protection  it  extends  to  the  interests  which  created 
it,  than  a  gigantic  effort  is  made  to  reduce  it  again  and  forever 
to  subjection.  The  free  States  are  called  upon  to  assist 
in  forging  the  chains  that  are  to  bind  them.  By  the 
help  of  craven  and  treacherous  representatives  of  these 
States,  the  foul  deed,  if  done  at  all,  must  be  accomplished. 
But  that  representative  of  a  non-slave- holding  State,  who 
shall  be  so  lost  to  all  his  obligations  to  earth  and  heaven,  as 
to  yield  his  consent  to  a  measure  pernicious  to  one,  and  offen 
sive  to  the  other,  will  live,  while  he  lives,  the  object  of  scorn 
and  loathing  to  all  lovers  of  liberty  and  of  man  ;  and  when 
he  shall  have  perished  from  the  earth,  tJie  history  of  his 
iniquitous  act  will  be  the  lasting  memorial  of  his  infamy. 

When,  therefore,  Dr.  Howe,  Charles  Sumner,  and 
the  other  Conscience  Whigs  of  Boston,  made  oppo 
sition  to  Southern  slavery  the  main  article  in  their 
political  creed,  as  they  did  in  1845-48,  they  had 
Daniel  Webster  for  their  leader  and  the  spokesman 


1  Webster's  part  in  the  preliminaries  of  the  Fanueil  Hall  Con 
vention  was  no  secret,  and  Charles  Sumner,  writing  to  a  warm 
friend  of  Webster,  Judge  Story,  said  (Feb.  5,  1845):  "You  will 
read  Mr.  Webster's  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
promulgated  by  the  Anti-Texas  Convention.  It  is  an  able  paper, 
which  will  lift  our  public  sentiment  to  a  new  platform  of  Anti- 
Slavery." 


2IO  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

of  their  opinions.1  It  is  true  that  he  had  not  the  cour 
age  of  his  opinions,  but  the  passages  cited  above,  chiefly 
from  his  pen  and  from  his  great  logical  understand 
ing,  were  and  had  been  his  opinions  from  the  time  he 
began  to  reflect  on  slavery  until  the  fatal  year  1850, 
when  he  deserted  his  convictions  and  incurred  his  own 
fearful  sentence  on  such  recreancy. 


1  Charles  Sumner  up  to  1845  had  abstained  from  active  politics, 
but  he  now  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  "  Conscience  Whigs,"  against 
the  aggressions  of  the  slavemasters.  In  a  speech  made  at  Faneuil 
Hall  November  6,  1850,  Sumner  said  :  "  The  first  political  conven 
tion  which  I  ever  attended  was  in  the  spring  of  1845  against  the 
annexation  of  Texas.  I  was  then  a  silent  and  passive  Whig.  I  had 
never  held  political  office,  nor  been  a  candidate  for  any.  No  ques 
tion  ever  before  drew  me  to  any  active  political  exertion.  The 
strife  of  politics  seemed  to  me  ignoble."  From  that  moment  the 
career  of  Sumner  was  determined;  he  was  to  increase  and  Webster 
was  to  decrease.  See  "  Charles  Sumner's  Works,"  vol.  II.  p.p. 
422-23.  Although  he  says  "  the  spring  of  1845  "  he  means  Janu 
ary  29,  in  that  year,  the  very  meeting  which  Webster  had  pro 
moted  and  run  away  from.  At  this  time,  Sumner  was  not  quite  34  ; 
Howe  was  44. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    MEXICAN    WAR   AND    PRISON  DISCIPLINE. 

IN  the  summer  of  1845,  Charles  Sumner  had  given 
his  great  peace  oration,  "  The  True  Grandeur  of 
Nations  "  before  the  city  authorities  of  Boston,  and 
Dr.  Howe  had  supported  the  extreme  opinions  there 
set  forth.  The  Mexican  War  was  already  in  anticipation, 
and  the  abstract  peace  principles  of  Sumner  and  his 
friends  were  in  part  their  protest  against  that  com 
ing  war.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  then  a  member  of 
Congress  from  Boston,  had  on  the  same  day  (July  4, 
1845)  given  his  famous  toast,  "  Our  Country  However 
Bounded,"  and  had  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  his 
future  vote  in  favor  of  the  Mexican  war,  which  led  to 


1  Robert  Charles  Winthrop,  born  in  Boston  in  1807,  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1827,  is  a  descendant  of  John  Winthrop,  the 
first  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  from  his  first  appearance  in 
public  life,  about  1835,  was  a  political  leader  among  men  of  his 
own  age,  until  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party  in  1854.  He  then 
ceased  to  have  any  political  eminence,  and  has  since  devoted  him 
self  to  history  and  biography.  He  had  not  favored  the  anti-Texas 
agitation  of  Webster  and  Ticknor  in  1844,  nor  that  of  Stephen  C. 
Phi'lips  and  Judge  Allen  in  1844-45;  and  in  1846  he  was  the  leader  of 
the  "Cotton  Whigs"  in  the  State  convention  at  Faneuil  Hall, 
where  Sumner,  Phillips,  Allen,  George  Tyler  Bigelow,  Charles 
Theodore  Russell  and  other'  "  Conscience  Whigs"  maintained  the 
doctrine  of  Webster's  Address. 

(211) 


212  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  refusal  of  Sumner,  Howe,  Andrew,  and  other 
"Conscience  Whigs  "  to  support  Mr.  Winthrop's  re 
election  to  Congress.  From  July,  1845,  then,  Howe 
was  an  opponent  of  the  Mexican  war,  of  slavery,  and 
particularly  of  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves.  He 
joined  also  with  Sumner  and  Horace  Mann  in  1845-46 
in  an  attempt  to  do  justice  to  the  Philadelphia  system 
of  separate  imprisonment,  in  the  meetings  of  the 
Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society,  of  which  Dr.  Way- 
land,  of  Brown  University,  had  been  President,  and  of 
which  Louis  Dwight  was  Secretary,  and  Samuel  A. 
Eliot1  of  Boston,  Treasurer.  This  led  to  a  heated 
and  protracted  controversy,  carried  on,  as  such  things 
always  are  in  Boston,  with  much  personal  bitterness. 
It  brought  Dr.  Howe  forward  in  a  new  capacity,  as  a 
prison  reformer,  and  as  a  speaker  at  public  meetings. 
His  opposition  to  the  Mexican  war,  like  his  interest 
in  the  prison  question,  was  more  plilanthropic  than 
political ;  but  both  had  political  consequences  of 
some  importance.  As  a  sample  of  his  direct  and 
manly  eloquence,  a  passage  from  one  of  his  speeches 
in  opposition  to  Messrs.  Dwight  and  Eliot,  who 
favored  the  "  Auburn  system  "  of  imprisonment,  may 
here  be  quoted.  It  is  also  valuable  for  its  personal 
reminiscenes,  something  in  which  Dr.  Howe,  like  the 


1  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot  was  the  father  of  President  Eliot,  of  Har 
vard  University,  and  the  brother-in-law  of  George  Ticknor.  He 
represented  Boston  in  Congress  in  1850-51  and  was  the  only  Mas 
sachusetts  member  who  voted  for  Mason's  (and  Webster's)  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Bill.  He  felt  keenly  the  difference  of  opinion  between 
himself  and  Dr.  Howe,  Horace  Mann,  etc.,  on  the  prison  question; 
and  the  animosity  thus  excited  had  something  to  do,  it  is  said, 
with  his  hostility  to  Sumner  on  more  important  issues.  Upon  such 
small  hinges  do  great  matters  turn,  especially  in  Boston. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  213 

Greek  Karaiskakis,  seldom  indulged  himself,  thinking 
more  of  the  future  than  the  past. 

DR.    HOWE    ON    PRISON    LIFE. 

Sir,  what  is  it  that  constitutes  men  social  beings?  Is  it  sleep 
ing,  packed  away  in  separate  cells,  as  near,  but  yet  as  separate 
and  still,  as  the  dead  in  a  well-filled  graveyard  ?  Is  it  march 
ing  in  lock-step,  in  silence  ?  Is  it  sitting  side  by  side  in  the 
shop,  at  the  table,  and  in  the  chapel,  but  without  a  sign  of  rec 
ognition  or  sympathy  ?  No,  sir,  it  is  through  the  sense  of  hear 
ing  that  men  most  communicate — it  is  speech,  and  not  sight, 
that  makes  men  social  beings.  Who  so  lonely,  who  so  unso- 
cial,who  so  completely  a  hermit  in  the  world,as  your  uninstructed 
deaf-and-dumb  man  ?  Before  you  give  him  a  language,  a  sys 
tem  of  signs,  he  is  not  only  the  loneliest  man  in  the  world,  but 
generally  a  brutal,  wretched,  and  miserable  one.  Now,  sir, 
the  (Auburn)  Congregate  System,  as  recommended  by  this  so 
ciety,  strives  to  cut  off  all  this  communication  by  speech  and  by 
sound.  It  succeeds  in  doing  so,  or  it  does  not  succeed.  If 
it  succeeds,  then  it  is  really  more  solitary  than  the  separate 
system,  which  makes  special  provision  for  communication.  If 
it  does  not  succeed,  it  holds  up  a  false  appearance  to  the 
world,  and  it  injures  the  prisoners,  by  placing  them  in  antag 
onism  with  rules  which  they  break  and  learn  to  despise. 

But,  let  me  now  describe  the  Philadelphia  prison  A  pris 
oner,  when  he  enters,  is  led  blindfolded  to  his  cell,  or  to  his 
room,  as  it  may  be  called,  which  is  about  twelve  feet  long 
by  eight  feet  wide,  and  sixteen  feet  high  in  the  center;  this 
room  has  a  board  floor,  it  is  well  ventilated,  and  is  warmed 
by  an  iron  pipe,  in  which  is  hot  water;  it  has  his  loom,  or 
shoe  bench  ;  his  table,  his  bed,  a  chair  or  two,  a  book  shelf, 
etc.  There  is  also  a  plentiful  supply  of  fresh  water,  so  that 
he  has  no  occasion  to  go  out  for  anything.  It  will  be  rec 
ollected  that  the  reverend  gentleman  (Mr.  Dwight)  said 
the  cells  were  like  coffins,  and  the  gardens  like  tombs  in 


214  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE, 

which  the  coffins  are  placed.  I  had  been  conversing  with  one 
of  the  convicts  in  his  room — I  beg  the  reverend  gentleman's 
pardon,  in  his  coffin  (large  enough  to  hold  a  loom,  a  bed,  a 
table,  a  book-case  and  a  few  chairs) — when  I  opened  the 
door — the  lid  of  the  coffin,  I  suppose  the  reverend  gentleman 
would  call  it — and  went  into  the  yard — the  tomb,  I  mean,  sir. 

It  was  a  small  garden,  sir,  very  small  indeed,  and  it  was 
surrounded  with  high  walls  ;  but  there  was  the  kind  mother 
earth,  as  ready  to  yield  her  prolific  bosom  to  the  labors  of  the 
convict  as  to  those  of  the  husbandman  ;  and  there  was  the 
bright  sun  shining  as  warmly  and  genially  upon  the  poor  pris 
oner  as  upon  any  prince  ;  and  God,  who  sends  his  rain  upon  the 
unjust  as  well  as  upon  the  just,  came  down  there  in  every 
passing  shower,  and  was  found  there  every  morning  in  the  glit 
tering  dew.  It  was  autumn,  and  the  flowers  were  fading,  and 
the  yellow  leaves  were  falling  from  a  peach  tree,  that  grew  by 
the  garden  wall !  Yes,  sir,  a  peach  tree  in  the  tomb  of  a  Penn 
sylvania  convict !  He  had  planted  it,  and  watered  it,  and  nur 
tured  it,  and  watched  its  swelling  buds,  and  rejoiced  over  its 
opening  blossoms,  and  caressed  its  tender  leaves,  until  it  became 
to  him  like  a  child,  like  a  companion,  like  a  friend,  like  a 
teacher.  Every  day  the  culture  and  care  of  his  plant  lightened 
the  task  in  his  cell ;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  after  the  study  of  his 
Bible,  his  dumb  companions  in  the  garden  opened  to  him  new 
pages  in  God's  great  book  of  Nature. 

Such,  sir,  is  one  of  the  tombs  of  the  Philadelphia  prison  i 
Such  are  the  fruits  of  love  and  improvement  which  one  prisoner 
gathered  there  !  Would  that  those  who  cultivate  larger  gar 
dens  might  gather  from  them  such  fruits  for  the  body  and  for 
the  soul !  But  to  return  to  my  description  of  the  prisoner's  life 
in  his  cell.  He  is,  at  first,  left  without  work  ;  but  soon  he 
demands  it.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  learns  that  idleness 
is  pain.  Work  is  given  to  him,  and  he  is  left  with  it,  to  learn  to 
love  it.  Contrast  this  with  the  situation  of  the  prisoner  at 
Auburn,  who  is  marched  up  in  military  array,  and  placed  at  his 
work,  and  forced  to  occupy  himself  incessantly  at  it,  upon  pain 
of  the  lash. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  215 

I  have  been  a  prisoner,  sir ;  I  have  known  what  a  weary 
length  of  time  is  a  day  passed  in  a  gloomy  cell,  without  occu 
pation,  without  books,  without  hope ;  what  an  age  is  a  week, 
endured  in  close  confinement ;  what  eternity  is  a  month, 
dragged  out  in  a  lonely  cell,  wThere,  though  it  was  not  dark,  I 
could  see  no  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  stars.  Among  the  first  portion 
of  my  imprisonment  (in  the  Prussian  prison  at  Berlin,  for  the 
offence  of  aiding  the  Poles  in  their  struggle  for  liberty),  I  was 
kept  au  secret,  as  it  was  called, — that  is,  no  one  was  allowed  to 
see  me  except  the  turnkey  who  brought  my  food — I  could  not 
know  my  offence,  I  could  not  tell  when  I  was  to  be  tried,  I 
could  not  tell  what  was  to  be  my  fate,  I  could  not  receive  a 
letter  or  newspaper,  or  know  what  was  going  on  in  the  world. 
I  bore  up  under  this  depressing,  and  purposely  agonizing  treat 
ment,  as  well  as  one  who  had  youth,  and  strength,  and  an  ordi 
nary  share  of  courage  could ;  but  it  was  evident  that  my  health 
could  not  endure  long  in  my  narrow  cell,  and  my  entreaty  to  be 
allowed  exercise  was  complied  with.  I  was  led  out  into  a 
court-yard  of  the  prison,  and  I  can  assure  you,  sir,  that  though 
the  fresh  air  was  most  delicious,  and  the  bright  sun  was  most 
welcome,  I  never  cared  to  go  there  again.  On  either  side  were 
convicts  in  their  cells,  and  they  came  to  the  gratings ;  the  men 
began  to  talk  ribaldly,  the  women  to  beckon  to  me,  and  because 
I  shrunk  away,  they  blasphemed  and  cursed  me  until  I  was 
glad  to  find  refuge  in  my  cell ;  and  I  thanked  God  for  its  silence 
and  its  solitude.  It  seemed  to  me  a  paradise  in  which  I  could 
live  contented  when  contrasted  with  the  hell  it  would  have 
been  if  such  wretches  as  I  had  seen  had  been  its  inmates  with 
me. 

Sir,  I  trust  that  when  I  escaped  from  that  prison,  I  was  at 
least  no  worse  a  man  than  when  I  entered  it ;  but  I  shudder  to 
think  what  might  have  become  of  me  if  I  had  been  forced  to 
v/ork,  to  eat,  to  march,  and  to  associate  for  five,  ten,  or  fifteen 
years  with  the  other  prisoners.  Sir,  the  hunger  and  thirsting  of 
the  human  soul  for  sympathy  and  communion,  is  almost  as 
dreadful  as  that  of  the  body  for  food.  One  has  a  feeling  as  of 
moral  starvation,  which,  in  common  natures,  will  overcome  the 


2l6  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

natural  repugnance  to  associating  with  the  depraved  ;  and  per 
haps  not  all  my  own  conscious  innocence,  nor  the  virtuous  pre 
cepts  of  my  home  education,  nor  my  own  self-respect,  would 
have  saved  me  from  sinking  into  despondency,  from  forming 
intimacy  with  my  comrades,  and  from  suffering  moral  evils 
which  must  almost  affect  even  innocent  men,  on  being  congre 
gated  with  criminals.  And  if  I  should  have  been  injured,  if 
I  shrank  from  congregating  with  criminals,  shall  I  not  plead 
for  my  brother  who  has  the  same  feelings  and  the  same 
nature  as  I  have?  May  there  not  be  a  man  committed  to 
our  prison  who  is  as  innocent  of  any  crime  as  I  was  ?  May 
there  not  be  others,  who  (when  we  consider  the  sudden  and 
dreadful  temptation  that  came  over  them  in  a  moment),  are 
hardly  to  be  counted  as  responsible  !  And  shall  we  herd  these 
men  in  with  hardened  offenders  ? 

It  was  philanthropy,  too,  which  moved  the  com 
passion  of  Dr.  Howe  so  deeply  for  the  fugitive  slave. 
He  had  compassion  for  all  men,  but  most  of  all  for 
those  who  had  all  men  against  them,  and  such  almost 
were  the  fugitive  slaves  who  escaped  from  the  South. 
The  first  of  these  slave  cases  that  attracted  general 
notice  in  Boston,  was  that  of  Latimer,  in  1844;  the 
next  was  that  of  poor  "  Joe,"  who  had  hardly  set 
foot  in  South  Boston — the  first  free  soil  he  had  ever 
seen — when  he  was  seized  unlawfully,  and  carried 
back  to  slavery  in  New  Orleans,  by  a  Yankee  ship 
master,  acting  under  the  orders  of  a  Boston  merchant. 
It  was  in  the  summer  of  1846,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Mexican  war,  and  when  Lowell  was  just  beginning 
to  publish  those  rustic  poems,  the  "  Biglow  Papers," 
which  first  made  the  young  poet  known  to  the  great 
world  he  has  so  long  delighted  with  his  writings. 
Dr.  Howe  issued  a  call  for  another  Faneuil  Hall  con 
vention  (Sept.  24,  1846),  where  John  Quincy  Adams 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  2iy 

presided,  and  where  Sumner  and  Wendell  Phillips 
and  Theodore  Parker  spoke.  But  the  chief  speaker 
was  Dr.  Howe,  and  this  was  the  speech,  perhaps  the 
longest  that  he  ever  made  in  his  life: x 

I  have  been  requested,  fellow-citizens,  as  Chairman  of  the 


1  Among  those  who  sent  to  Dr.  Howe  letters  of  concurrence  in 
the  purpose  of  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting,  were  R.  W.  Emerson,  of 
Concord,  Gerrit  Smith,  Charles  Sedgwick,  and  William  H. 
Seward.  Mr.  Emerson  wrote  thus: 

To  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe  and  his  Associates  of  the  Committee  : 

If  I  could  do  or  say  anything  useful,  or  equal  to  the  occasion,  I 
would  not  fail  to  attend  the  meeting  on  Thursday.  I  feel  the  irre 
parable  shame  to  Boston  of  this  abduction.  I  hope  it  is  not  possi 
ble  that  the  city  will  make  the  act  its  own,  by  any  color  of  justifica 
tion.  Our  State  has  suffered  many  disgraces  of  late  years  to  spoil 
our  pride  in  it;  but  never  any  so  flagrant  as  this  if  the  people  of 
the  Commonwealth  can  be  brought  to  be  accomplices  in  this  crime, 
which,  I  assure  myself,  will  never  be.  I  hope  it  is  not  only  not 
to  be  sustained  by  the  mercantile  body,  but  not  even  by  the 
smallest  portion  of  that  class.  If  the  merchants  tolerate  this 
crime,  as  nothing  will  be  too  bad  for  their  desert,  so  it  is  very  cer 
tain  they  will  have  the  ignominy  very  faithfully  put  to  their 
lips.  .  .  .  It  is  high  time  our  bad  wealth  came  to  an  end.  I 
am  sure  I  shall  very  cheerfully  take  my  share  of  suffering  in  the 
ruin  of  such  a  prosperity,  and  shall  very  willingly  turn  to  the  moun 
tains  to  chop  wood,  and  seek  to  find  for  myself  and  my  children 
labors  compatible  with  freedom  and  honor.  With  this  feeling,  I 
am  proportionately  grateful  to  Mr.  Adams  and  yourselves  for 
undertaking  the  office  of  putting  the  question  to  our  people, 
whether  they  will  make  this  cruelty  theirs,  and  of  giving  them  an 
opportunity  of  clearing  the  population  from  the  stain  of  this 
crime,  and  securing  mankind  from  the  repetition  of  it  in  this 
quarter  forever. 

Respectfully  and  thankfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  W.  EMERSON. 
CONCORD,  Sept.  23,  1846. 


2l8  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Committee  of  Arrangements  for  this  meeting,  to  make  a  state 
ment  of  the  reasons  for  calling  this  meeting,  and  of  the  ob 
jects  which  it  is  proposed  to  attain  ;  and  I  shall  do  so  very 
briefly.  A  few  weeks  ago,  there  sailed  from  New  Orleans  a 
vessel  belonging  to  this  port,  owned  and  manned  by  New 
England  freemen,  under  the  flag  of  our  Union — the  flag  of  the 
free.  When  she  had  been  a  week  upon  her  voyage,  and  was 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  laws  of  Louisiana,  far  out  upon 
a  broad  and  illimitable  ocean,  there  was  found  secreted  in  her 
hold  a  man,  lying  naked  upon  the  cargo,  half  suffocated  by  the 
hot  and  stifled  air,  and  trembling  with  fear.  He  begged  the 
sailors  who  found  him  not  to  betray  him  to  the  captain,  for  he 
had  rather  die  than  be  discovered  before  he  got  to  Boston. 
Poor  fellow  !  he  had  heard  of  Boston ;  he  had  heard  that  there 
all  men  were  free  and  equal — he  had  seen  the  word  Boston 
written  on  that  ship  ;  and  he  had  said  to  himself,  "  I,  too,  am  a 
man,  and  not  a  brute  or  a  chattel,  and  if  I  could  only  once  set 
my  foot  in  that  blessed  city,  my  claims  to  human  brotherhood 
will  be  admitted,  and  I  shall  be  treated  as  a  man  and  a 
brother" — and  he  hid  himself  in  the  hold.  Well,  sir,  the 
knowledge  of  his  being  there  could  not  long  be  kept  from  the 
captain,  and  he  was  dragged  from  his  hot  and  close  hiding 
place,  and  brought  upon  deck.  It  was  then  seen  that  he  was 
a  familiar  acquaintance — a  bright,  intelligent  mulatto  youth, 
who  used  to  be  sent  by  his  master  to  sell  milk  on  board  ;  he 
had  been  a  favorite,  and  every  man  from  the  captain  to  the 
cabin  boy  used  to  have  his  joke  with  "  Joe."  They  had  treated 
him  like  a  human  being — could  he  expect  they  would  ever  help 
to  send  him  into  slavery  like  a  brute  ? 

And  now  what  was  to  be  done  ?  Neither  the  captain  nor  any 
of  his  officers  had  been  privy  to  his  coming  on  board  ;  they 
could  not  be  convicted  of  the  crime  of  willfully  aiding  a 
brother  man  to  escape  from  bondage  ;  the  man  was  to  them  as 
though  he  had  been  dropped  from  the  clouds,  or  been  picked 
up  floating  on  a  plank  at  sea  ;  he  was  thrown,  by  the  Provi 
dence  of  God,  upon  their  charity  and  humanity  ! 

But  it  was  decided  to  send  him  back  to  New  Orleans ;  to 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  219 

deliver  him  up  to  his  old  owner ;  and  they  looked  long  and 
eagerly  for  some  ship  that  would  take  charge  of  him.  None 
such,  however,  was  found,  and  the  Ottoman  arrived  safely  in 
our  harbor.  The  wish  of  the  poor  slave  was  gratified  ;  his 
eyes  were  blessed  with  the  sight  of  the  promised  land.  He 
had  been  treated  well  for  the  most  part  on  board — could  he 
doubt  that  the  hearts  of  his  captors  had  softened  !  Can  we 
suppose  that  sailors,  so  proverbial  for  their  generous  nature, 
could  have  been,  of  their'own  accord,  the  instruments  of  send 
ing-  the  poor  fellow  back  !'  I,  for  one,  will  not  believe  it. 

But  the  captain  communicated  with  his  rich  and  respectable 
owners,  men  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  honor  and  obey,  and 
they  decided  that  whether  a  human  being  or  not,  poor  "  Joe  " 
must  be  sent  back  to  bondage ;  they  would  not  be  a  party, 
even  against  their  will,  to  setting  free  a  slave.  (Loud  cries  of 
"  shame,  shame,"  and  "  let  us  know  the  name  of  the  owner.") 
The  name  of  the  firm  is  John  H.  Pearson  &  Co.  (Repeated 
cries  of  "  shame,  shame.")  It  was  a  dangerous  business  this 
that  they  undertook ;  they  did  not  fear  to  break  the  laws  of 
God — to  outrage  the  laws  of  humanity  ;  but  they  did  fear  the 
laws  of  the  Commonwealth.  For  those  laws  threatened  the 
State's  Prison  to  whoever  should  illegally  imprison  another. 
They  knew  that  no  person,  except  the  owner  of  the  runaway 
slave,  or  his  agent,  or  a  marshal  of  the  United  States,  had  any 
right  to  touch  him;  they  were  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ; 
and  they  therefore  hid  their  victim  upon  an  island  in  our  har 
bor  and  detained  him  there. 

But  he  escaped  from  their  clutches  ;  he  fled  to  our  city — to 
the  city  of  his  hopes — he  was  here  in  our  very  streets,  fellow- 
citizens  !  He  had  gained  an  asylum — he  called  on  us  for  aid. 
Of  old,  there  were  temples  so  sacred  that  even  a  murderer 
who  had  taken  refuge  in  them  was  free  from  pursuit  ;  but  no 
such  temple  did  Boston  offer  to  the  hunted  slave  ;  he  was  pur 
sued  and  seized,  and  those  of  our  wondering  citizens  who  in 
quired  what  it  all  meant,  were  deceived  by  a  lie  about  his 
being  a  thief,  and  he  was  dragged  on  board  ship. 

But  the  news  of  this  got  abroad  ;  legal  warrants  were  at 


220  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

once  procured  ;  the  shield  of  the  habeas  corpus  was  prepared 
to  cover  the  fugitive  ;  officers  of  justice  were  urged  to  the  pur 
suit  ;  the  owner  of  the  vessel  was  implored  to  give  an  order 
for  the  man's  surrender — but  all  in  vain.  A  vessel  was  found, 
bound  for  New  Orleans,  which  would  consent  to  be  made  a 
slave  ship  of.  (Loud  cries  for  the  name  of  the  ship.)  The 
Niagara,  belonging  to  the  same  owners — and  on  board  of  this 
ship  the  man  was  sent  back,  to  receive  the  lash  and  wear  the 
shackles,  for  his  ill-starred  attempt  to'be  free,  and  to  drag  out 
all  the  days  of  his  life  as  a  degraded,  wretched,  and  hopeless 
slave ! 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  how  does  all  this  differ  from  piracy 
and  the  slave  trade  ?  The  man  was  free — free  at  sea,  free  on 
shore — and  it  was  only  by  a  legal  process  that  he  could  be 
arrested.  He  was  seized  in  our  city,  bound  and  carried  into 
slavery  by  those  who  had  no  more  right  to  do  so  than  has  the 
slave-trader  to  descend  upon  the  coast  of  Guinea  and  carry  off 
the  inhabitants.  All  these  facts  are  known  and  admitted  ;  nay, 
they  are  defended  by  some  who  call  themselves  followers  of 
Him  who  said,  "  As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do 
ye  even  so  to  them  ; "  they  are  defended,  too,  by  some  of  those 
presses  whose  editors  arrogate  for  themselves  the  name  of 
Watchmen  on  the  Towers  of  Liberty  ! 

And  now  it  will  be  asked — it  has  been  asked,  tauntingly — 
how  can  we  help  ourselves  ?  What  can  this  meeting  do  about 
it  ?  In  reply,  let  me  first  state  what  it  has  not  proposed  to  do 
about  it.  It  is  not  proposed  to  move  the  public  mind  to  any 
expression  of  indignation,  much  less  to  any  acts  of  violence 
against  the  parties  connected  with  the  late  outrage.  As  to  the 
captain,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  more  sinned  against  than 
sinning.  I  am  told  that  he  is  a  kind,  good  man,  in  most  of  the 
relations  of  life,  and  that  he  was  made  a  tool  of.  Let  him  go 
and  sin  no  more.  As  for  the  owners  and  their  abettors — the 
men  who  used  the  wealth  and  influence  which  God  gave  them 
to  kidnap  and  enslave  a  fellow-man — a  poor,  trembling,  hunted 
wretch  who  had  fled  to  our  shores  for  liberty  and  sought  refuge  in 
our  borders — let  them  go,  too — their  punishment  will  be  dread- 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  221 

ful  enough  without  our  adding  to  it.  Indeed,  I,  for  one,  can  say 
that  I  would  rather  be  in  the  place  of  the  victim  whom  they  are 
at  this  moment  sending  away  into  bondage — I  would  rather  be 
in  his  place  than  in  theirs  ;  aye  !  through  the  rest  of  my  earthly 
life  I  would  rather  be  a  driven  slave  upon  a  Louisiana  planta 
tion  than  roll  in  their  wealth  and  bear  the  burden  of  their  guilt ; 
and  as  for  the  life  to  come,  if  the  police  of  those  regions  to 
which  bad  men  go  be  not  as  sleepy  as  the  police  of  Boston, 
then  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  upon  their  souls  ! 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  again  it  is  asked  :  "  What  shall  we  do  ?  " 
Fellow-citizens,  it  is  not  a  retrospective,  but  a  prospective 
action  which  this  meeting  proposes,  and  there  are  many  ways 
in  which  good  may  be  done  and  harm  prevented,  some  of  which 
I  hope  will  be  proposed  by  those  who  may  follow  me,  and  who, 
probably,  will  be  more  accustomed  to  such  meetings  than  I  am. 
But  first  let  me  answer  some  of  the  objections  which  have  been 
urged  by  some  of  those  gentlemen  who  have  been  invited  to 
come  up  here  to-night  and  help  us,  and  have  declined  to  do  so. 
They  say  :  "  We  must  not  interfere  with  the  course  of  the  law." 
Sir,  they  know  as  well  as  we  know  that  if  the  law  be  the  edge 
of  the  ax,  public  opinion  is  the  force  that  gives  strength  and 
weight  to  the  blow. 

Sir,  we  have  tried  the  "  let-alone  system  "  long  enough  ;  we 
have  a  right  to  judge  the  future  by  the  past,  and  we  know  that 
the  law  will  not  prevent  such  outrage  in  time  to  come,  unless 
the  officers  of  the  law  are  driven  by  public  opinion  to  do  their 
duty.  What  has  made  the  African  slave-trade  odious  ?  Was 
it  the  law  or  public  opinion  ? 

But,  sir,  in  order  to  test  the  strength  of  this  objection,  let  us 
suppose  that  instead  of  the  poor  hunted  mulatto  one  of  the 
clergymen  of  Boston  had  been  carried  off  into  slavery.  Would 
the  pulpit  have  been  silent  ?  Had  one  of  our  editors  been  car 
ried  awray,  would  the  press  have  been  dumb  ?  Would  there 
have  been  any  want  of  glaring  capitals  and  notes  of  exclama 
tion  ?  Suppose  a  lawyer  had  been  kidnapped  in  his  office,  bound 
and  carried  off  to  work  on  a  slave  plantation  ;  would  the  limbs 
of  the  law  have  moved  so  lazily  as  they  did  week  before  last  ? 


222  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Or  suppose  a  merchant  had  been  torn  from  his  counting-room 
in  State  street,  and  shipped  for  the  slave  market  of  Tunis 
would  ihere  not  have  been  an  excitement  all  over  the  city  ? 
Think  you  there  would  not  have  been  "  indignation  meetings  " 
on  "  'Change  ?  " 

And  yet,  sir,  are  any  of  these  men  more  precious  in  the  sight 
of  God  than  the  poor  mulatto  ?  Or  suppose  a  slave-ship  from 
the  coast  of  Guinea,  with  her  human  cargo  on  board,  had  been 
driven  by  stress  of  weather  into  our  port,  and  one  of  her  vic 
tims  had  escaped  to  our  shores,  and  had  been  recaptured  and 
carried  off  in  the  face  of  the  whole  community  ;  would  there 
have  been  any  want  of  "  indignation  "  then  ?  And,  sir,  is  there 
any  difference,  would  it  be  a  greater  crime  to  carry  such  an  one 
away  ?  except  that  as  this  man  had  been  once  a  slave,  he  might 
be  made  a  slave  again — that  is,  that  two  wrongs  might  make 
a  right. 

No,  Mr.  Chairman,  these  are  not  the  true  reasons.  It  is,  sir, 
that  the  "  peculiar  institution,"  which  has  so  long  been  brood 
ing  over  the  country  like  an  incubus,  has  at  last  spread  abroad 
her  murky  wings,  and  has  covered  us  with  her  benumbing 
shadow.  It  has  silenced  the  pulpit ;  it  has  muffled  the  press  ;  its 
influence  is  everywhere.  Court  street,  that  can  find  a  flaw  in 
every  indictment,  and  can  cunningly  devise  ways  to  save  the 
murderer  from  the  gallows — Court  street  can  find  no  way  of 
escape  for  the  poor  slave.  State  street,  that  drank  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  of  liberty — State  street  is  deaf  to  the  cry  of  the 
oppressed  slave ;  the  port  of  Boston,  that  has  been  shut  up  by 
a  tyrant  king  as  the  dangerous  haunt  of  freemen — the  port  of 
Boston  has  been  opened  for  the  slave-trader ;  for  God's  sake, 
Mr.  Chairman,  let  us  keep  Fanueil  Hall  free.  Let  there  be 
words  of  such  potency  spoken  here  this  night  as  shall  break 
the  spell  that  is  upon  the  community.  Let  us  devise  such 
means  and  measures  as  shall  secure  to  every  man  who  seeks 
refuge  in  our  borders,  all  the  liberties  and  all  the  rights  which 
the  law  allows  him. 

In    the  speech  of   John  Qu-incy  Adams,  who   pre- 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  223 

sided,  he  said  :  "  The  state  of  my  health  and  the 
feebleness  of  my  voice  will  not  probably  permit  one 
in  ten  to  hear  what  I  may  say.  Forty  years  ago  I 
stood,  by  the  suffrages  of  your  fathers,  and  perhaps 
your  grandfathers,  in  this  same  situation.  I  recollect 
the  former  situation  well.  A  seaman  had  been  taken  out 
of  an  American  frigate  by  the  crew  of  a  British  man- 
of-war,  and  a  similar  meeting  was  called.  The  vener 
able  Elbridge  Gerry, *  of  whom  you  have  all  heard, 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
was  sent  for  to  come  from  his  residence  in  Cam 
bridge  to  preside.  He  came,  and  apologized  for  his 
age  and  infirmities,  which  should  have  kept  him  at 
home  ;  he  said  that  the  event  was  of  such  a  nature 
that  if  he  had  but  one  day  more  to  live,  he  would 
have  come.  On  that  same  principle  I  now  appear 
before  you.  It  is  a  question  whether  this  Common 
wealth  is  to  maintain  its  independence  as  a  State  or 
not.  It  is  a  question  whether  yours  and  my  native 
Commonwealth  is  capable  of  protecting  the  men  who 
are  under  its  laws  or  not." 

Charles  Sumner,  who  the  day  before  had  been 
voted  down  in  the  Whig  State  Convention,  while  sup 
porting  the  anti-slavery  resolutions  of  Stephen  C. 
Phillips,  was  loudly  called  for  in  the  meeting,  and 

1  Gerry,  in  1806,  was  but  62  years  old,  and  was  afterwards  Gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
dying  in  1814  at  the  age  of  70.  Mr.  Adams  in  1846  was  79  years 
old,  and  he  lived  but  a  year  and  a  half  longer.  The  reasons  that 
kept  Webster  from  attending  his  own  convention  in  January,  1845, 
never  operated  on  one  of  the  Adamses  ;  and  no  contrast  could  be 
greater  than  that  between  the  spirit  of  the  old  President  and  that  of 
the  would-be  President  who  deserted  his  post  in  1845,  and  betrayed 
it  to  the  enemy  in  1850. 


224  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

made  a  good  speech,  which  is  not  included  in  his 
"  Works."  He  said,  among  other  things  :  "There  is 
no  law  of  the  United  States,  no  regulation  in  the 
Constitution  rendering  it  necessary  for  a  person  with 
out  authority  from  the  master,  to  return  a  fugitive  to 
bondage.  I  say,  then,  Captain  Hannum  was  a  volun 
teer — he  violated  the  law  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
cause  of  slavery.  And  that  poor  unfortunate  who  has 
been  pictured  to  you  to-night,  when  he  touched  the  soil 
of  Massachusetts,  was  as  much  entitled  to  the  protec 
tion  of  its  laws  as  any  of  you,  fellow-citizens — as 
as  much  as  you,  Mr.  President,  covered  with  honors 
as  you  are.  Some  twenty  years  ago,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  an  individual,  not  a  colored  person,  was 
kidnapped,  carried  away,  and  killed.  That  outrage 
caused  an  immense  excitement  which  spread  from 
New  York  to  Massachusetts,  and  finally  enveloped  all 
New  England  in  its  rage.1  The  abduction  of  William 


1  The  abduction  and  murder  of  the  worthless  Morgan,  who  had 
published  a  book  professing  to  expose  the  secrets  of  Masonry,  took 
place  in  1826,  and  the  whole  story  is  told  in  the  autobiography  of 
Thurlow  Weed,  at  great  length,  and  so  as  to  leave  no  doubt  what 
became  of  Morgan.  He  was  drowned  in  Lake  Ontario  in  the  latter 
part  of  September,  1826,  by  John  Whitney  and  three  other  persons, 
who  rowed  out  from  near  Fort  Niagara  for  that  purpose.  The 
Anti-Masonic  political  party  was  soon  formed  and  became  powerful 
in  four  or  five  States.  Vermont  cast  its  electoral  vote  in  1832  for 
William  Wirt,  the  Presidential  candidate  of  the  Anti-Masons.  The 
late  Chief- Justice  Chase,  when  a  student  in  Mr.  Wirt's  office  at 
Washington,  was  an  Anti-Mason,  so  were  Judge  McLean,  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Charles  Allen,  of  Worcester,  Mass., 
and  many  of  those  who  afterwards  became  active  anti-slavery 
leaders.  Judge  Allen  was  a  grand-nephew  of  Samuel  Adams,  the 
father  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  had  many  of  the  same 
traits. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  225 

Morgan  by  the  Freemasons  of  his  own  State,  roused 
the  Northern  States  and  raised  a  party  which  exercised 
an  important  influence  upon  the  politics  of  the  coun 
try.  Now  another  individual  has  been  stolen.  We 
do  know  that  he  has  been  carried  away  into  slavery, 
though  we  do  not  know  that  he  has  been  slain.  But 
he  has  been  carried  back  to  suffer  all  the  wrongs 
which  slavery  can  inflict.  This  outrage  should  rouse 
the  citizens  of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  Northern 
States  to  call  for  the  abolition  of  that  institution 
which  caused  it."  This  allusion  to  the  Anti-Ma 
sonic  agitation  of  1826-33  was  better  understood  in 
1846  than  it  would  be  now  ;  but  it  was  very  pertinent 
and  close  as  a  comparison  of  two  powerful  influences 
which  disguise  from  the  minds  of  honest  men  the 
true  nature  of  hideous  crime.  Every  step  in  the  mur 
der  of  Morgan  was  parallel  to  those  which  slavery 
was  forced  to  take  in  its  own  defense. 

This  indignation  meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall  brought 
Dr.  Howe  conspicuously  forward  as  a  champion  of 
the  slave,  and  showed  that  the  moral  sentiment  of 
Massachusetts — represented  by  the  Adamses,  the 
Quincys,  the  Phillipses,  and  the  Channings,  by 
Emerson,  Lowell,  Whittier,  Alcott,  Thoreau,  Theo 
dore  Parker,  and  John  A.  Andrew — supported  him  and 
his  friend  Sumner.  But  the  mercantile  spirit  of  Bos 
ton  was  insensible  to  the  degradation  to  which  it  was 
subjecting  the  good  old  town.  Stephen  C.  Phillips, * 

1  This  gentleman  was  a  distant  cousin  of  Wendell  Phillips,  living 
in  Salem,  where  a  branch  of  the  Phillips  family  had  been  settled  for 
many  generations,  overflowing  from  there  into  Andover  and  Exeter, 
where  wealthy  Phillipses  had  founded  schools  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 


226  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

himself  a  merchant,  declared  that  he  did  not  believe 
another  merchant  in  Boston,  except  Pearson,  would 
be  guilty  of  such  an  act  of  injustice  and  wrong. 
To  this  Pearson  replied  in  the  newspapers,  that  his 
course  was  commended  by  the  merchants  of  Boston, 
and  that  "  the  response  of  the  Boston  merchants 
assembled  on  'Change  any  day  from  half-past  one  till 
two  o'clock  would  confirm  his  doings  by  a  vote  of  five 
to  one."1  As  Boston  was  then  largely  engaged  in 
the  Southern  trade  of  cotton,  rice,  molasses,  etc.,  it 
is  quite  likely  Pearson  was  right.  There  was,  how 
ever,  another  class  of  merchants,  represented  by 
Samuel  May,  Charles  F.  Hovey,  George  W.  Bond, 
George  Higginson,  and  many  more,  who  would  have 
sacrificed  their  mercantile  interests  rather  than  send 
back  a  slave  into  bondage. 

The  upshot  of  the  meeting  was  the  appointment  of 
a  vigilance  committee  of  forty  members,  of  which 
Dr.  Howe  was  chairman,  and  which  continued  to 
exist,  in  various  forms,  until  the  hunting  of  fugitives 
ceased  in  Boston,  and  the  citizens  began  to  enlist  the 
same  stalwart  negroes  as  sailors  and  soldiers,  who 
had  for  so  many  years  been  hunted  as  runaway 
slaves  in  the  streets  of  the  city  and  the  country  towns 
of  Massachusetts.  At  that  period  (1862-63)  Dr.  Howe 
was  by  national  appointment,  a  member  of  an  eman 
cipation  commission,  holding  sessions  in  Virginia 
and  South  Carolina.  Thus  had  the  whirligig  of  time 
brought  about  its  revenges. 

Upon    the    principles    laid    down    by    Webster,    in 

1  'Change  at  that  time  was  on  State  street  near  the  scene  of  the 
Boston  Massacre  of  1770 — the  Merchants'  Exchange,  a  fine  build 
ing,  now  torn  away,  standing  just  below  the  Old  State  House. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  227 

1844-45,  the  "  Conscience  Whigs  "  of  Massachusetts 
formed  their  party.  Sumner  became  early  a  mem 
ber  of  it,  and  so  did  his  friend,  Dr.  Howe.  They 
maintained  for  some  years,  and  even  after  the  Mex 
ican  war,  which  they  stoutly  opposed,  certain  rela 
tions  of  friendship  with  Webster  ;  so  much  so  indeed 
that  in  October  1846,  he  wrote  to  Sumner  l  from 
Marshfield  :  "  I  have  ever  cherished  high  respect  for 
your  character  and  talents,  and  seen  with  pleasure 
the  promise  of  your  future  and  greater  eminence  and 
usefulness.  In  political  affairs  we  happen  to  enter 
tain  at  the  present  moment  a  difference  of  opinion 
respecting  the  relative  importance  of  some  of  the 
political  questions  of  the  time.  These  differences  I 
much  regret,  but  shall  not  allow  them  to  interfere 
with  personal  regard."  This  letter  was  written  but 
a  month  before  Dr.  Howe  entered  definitely  into 
political  conflict,  by  accepting  a  nomination  for  Con 
gress  against  Mr.  Winthrop,  which  Sumner  had  a 
few  days  before  declined  to  receive. 


1  Sumner  in  January,  1845,  was  in  the  secret  of  the  subsidy 
granted  to  Webster,  at  his  own  suggestion,  before  he  would  return 
to  the  Senate  from  Massachusetts.  He  writes  to  Judge  Story  that 
Webster's  terms  were  $50,000,  to  be  subscribed  in  Boston,  and  the 
same  sum  in  New  York ;  to  be  settled  on  his  life  and  that  of  his 
wife.  "  The  subscription  in  Boston  has  labored  ;  though,  when  I 
last  heard  of  it,  the  Boston  sum  had  been  subscribed — except  about 
$12,000.  The  manufacturing  companies  have  subscribed  $1,000 
each.  None  of  the  Lawrences  subscribed,  though  the  Appletons 
have.  It  is  understood  that  the  New  York  portion  is  to  be  made 
up  by  larger  sums."  At  this  date  (February  5,  1845)  Webster  had 
been  elected  Senator.  See  "  Memoir  of  Charles  Sumner, "Vol.  II., 
p.  331.  The  money  thus  subscribed  and  funded  has  been  in  part 
returned  since  the  death  of  Mrs.  Webster. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DR.    HOWE    STANDS    UP    TO    BE    SHOT    AT. 

THE  nomination  of  Dr.  Howe  as  the  candidate  of 
the  "  Conscience  Whigs,"  was  ratified,  November  5, 
1846,  by  a  meeting  in  the  Tremont  Temple  of  Boston, 
over  which  John  Albion  Andrew,1  afterwards  the 
"War  Governor"  of  Massachusetts,  presided,  and 
where  speeches  were  made  by  Sumner  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams.  In  Sumner's  speech  he  told  this 
story  of  Dr.  Howe  :  "When  in  July,  1830,  the  people 
of  Paris  succeeded  in  their  revolution,  Lafayette, 
votary  of  liberty  in  two  hemispheres,  placing  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  movement,  made  his  way  on  foot 
to  the  City  Hall,  through  streets  filled  with  barri 
cades  and  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  war.  Moving 
along  with  a  thin  attendance,  he  was  unexpectedly 
joined  by  a  gallant  Bostonian,  who,  though  young  in 


1  This  eminent  man,  born  in  Maine,  May  31,  1818,  died  in  Bos 
ton  October  30.  1867.  He  was  formed  by  nature  to  lead  the 
people  in  a  crisis  like  that  of  our  Civil  War,  during  the  whole  of 
which  he  was  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  elected  in  November,  1860, 
and  laying  down  his  office  in  January,  1866.  He  was  the  close 
personal  friend  of  Dr.  Howe,  whom  he  appointed  in  1865  to  the 
important  position  at  the  head  of  the  State  Charities  of  Massa 
chusetts,  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter.  He  was  also  before 
the  war  an  intimate  friend  of  Wendell  Phillips  and  Theodore 
Parker,  who  spoke  of  him  in  those  years  as  "  the  future  Chief- 
Justice."  I  first  met  him  at  Parker's  house. 


POLITICAL    COHFLICT.  229 

life,  was  already  eminent  by  years  of  disinterested 
service  in  the  struggle  for  Grecian  independence 
against  the  Turks  ;  who  had  listened  to  the  whizzing 
of  bullets,  and  narrowly  escaped  the  descending 
scimitar.  Lafayette,  considerately  brave,  turned  to 
his  faithful  friend,  and  said  :  "  Do  not  join  me  ;  this 
is  a  danger  for  Frenchmen  only  ;  reserve  yourself 
for  your  own  country,  where  you  will  be  needed." 
That  fellow-citizen  heeded  him  not,  but  continued 
by  his  side,  sharing  his  perils.  That  Bostonian  was 
Dr.  Howe." 

This  was  a  good  introduction  of  his  friend  to  a 
Boston  audience,  and  it  was  literally  true.  He  had 
thus  guarded  the  march  of  Lafayette,  and  had  re 
ceived  this  friendly  dissuasive  from  the  old  general. 
It  was  an  honor  thus  to  be  addressed  by  that  voice, 
so  well  known  throughout  the  world,  "a  voice  which 
the  friends  of  free  institutions  will  recognize"  as  Lafay 
ette  modestly  said  when  he  spoke  against  Napoleon 
in  1815.  Sumner  went  on  to  say  : 

I  shall  feel  a  satisfaction  in  voting  for  Dr.  Howe,  beyond  even 
the  gratification  of  personal  friendship,  because  he  is  not  a 
politician.  He  is  the  friend  of  the  poor,  the  blind,  the  prisoner, 
the  slave.  Wherever  there  is  suffering,  there  his  friendship  is 
manifest.  Generosity,  disinterestedness,  self-sacrifice,  and 
courage  have  been  his  inspiring  sentiments — directed  by  rare 
sagacity  and  intelligence.  Such  a  character  reflects  luster 
upon  the  place  of  his  oirth,  far  more  than  if  he  had  excelled 
only  in  the  strife  of  politics  or  the  servitude  of  party.  He 
has  qualities  which  especially  commend  him  at  this  time.  He 
is  firm,  ever  true,  honest,  determined,  a  lover  of  the  right,  with 
a  courage  that  charms  opposition  ;  he  would  not  fear  to  stand 
alone  against  a  fervid  majority.  Knowing  war  by  fearful 
familiarity,  he  is  an  earnest  defender  of  peace,  with  a  singular 


230  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

experience  of  life  in  other  countries,  he  now  brings  the  stores 
he  has  garnered  up,  and  his  noble  spirit,  to  the  service  of  his 
fellow-citizens.1 

Yet  with  all  these  commendations,  and  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  he  had  before  been  elected  to  the  School 
Committee,  and  to  the  Legislature,  Howe  received 
but  1,334  votes  out  of  the  8,333  which  were  cast.  Mr. 
Winthrop  got  5,980 — or  nearly  twice  as  many  as  all 
the  candidates  against  him,  and  the  next  year  (Decem 
ber,  1847),  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  at  Wash 
ington,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  Dr.  Pal 
frey,  a  Whig  member  from  the  next  district.  Mr. 
Winthrop  had  now  become,  earlier  than  Webster,  the 
champion  of  the  "  Cotton  Whigs,"  and  never  after 
wards  rendered  that  service  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
which  his  talents  and  eloquence  would  have  made 
so  effective.  He  served  in  the  Senate  for  a  short 
term,  but  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  reelection 
in  1855,  and  refused  the  proposition  of  his  successor, 
Henry  Wilson,  to  take  the  lead  of  an  anti-slavery  party 
in  Massachusetts  in  the  summer  of  1855.  From  that 
time  his  influence  in  Massachusetts  politics  became 


1  "  Sumner's  Works,"  Vol.   II.,  pp.  333-335. 

2  John  Gorham  Palfrey,  D.D.,  had  been  a  clergyman  in  Boston 
where  Webster  was  one  of  his  parish  ;  he  then  removed  to  Cam 
bridge  where  he  was  a  professor  in  Harvard  University  and  editor 
of   the   North   American   Review.     He    became    a    "  Conscience 
Whig"  and  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the   Middlesex  District 
which  Edward  Everett  and  Samuel  Hoar   had    represented.     His 
refusal  to  vote  for  his  brother  Whig,  Mr.  Winthrop,  for  Speaker, 
was  the  occasion  of  a  bitter  warfare  against  him  ;  the  humorous  side 
of  which   may  be  seen  in  Lowell's  "  Biglow  Papers,"  as  hereafter 
quoted.   He  was  afterwards  Postmaster  of  Boston,  and  died  in  1881. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  23! 

much  less  than  that  of  Dr.   Howe,  whom  he  had  so 
triumphantly  defeated  in  1846. 

Horace  Mann,  who  had  been  for  more  than  a  dozen 
years  a  co-laborer  with  Howe  in  many  good  causes,  and 
who  was  himself  to  enter  warmly  into  political  strife 
two  years  later,  did  not  approve  of  his  friend's  posi 
tion  in  1846.  Writing  to  their  common  friend,  George 
Combe,  in  April,  1847,  Mann  said  :  "At  our  last  Con 
gressional  election  Howe  consented  to  be  the  candi 
date  for  Congress  of  the  anti-slavery  and  anti-war 
party.  I  think  in  so  doing  he  made  a  great  mistake. 
Another  man  would  have  served  as  a  rallying  point 
as  well  he  ;  and  such  is  the  inexorableness  of  party 
discipline  that  he  at  once  lost  a  great  portion  of  his 
well-earned  popularity  and  extensive  influence.1  He 
was  proscribed,  and  a  few  days  after  failed  of  being 
elected  on  the  School  Committee,  when  he  might 
have  been  but  for  that  misstep." 


1  In  September,  1851,  Theodore  Parker  wrote  in  his  Diary  :  "  Dr. 
Howe  says  that  for  twenty  years  he  has  been  in  Boston,  most  of 
the  time  at  the  head  of  the  Blind  Institution,  and  never  received 
any  sign  of  recognition  from  the  city  authorities,  in  the  shape  of.  an 
invitation  to  any  of  their  festivities.  Had  he  kept  a  great  rum- 
shop,"  adds  Parker,  "  and  made  men  blind  and  idiotic,  it  would  not 
have  been  so."  It  is  probable  that  Howe  a  little  exaggerated  this 
neglect  of  him  by  the  city  officials,  many  of  whom  had  been  his 
personal  friends  ;  but  they  perhaps  thought  him  too  busy  with  his 
philanthropies  to  care  for  their  feasts.  A  few  days  after  this  (Sep 
tember  24,  1851)  Howe  and  Parker  dined  at  the  Norfolk  County 
Cattle  Show,  where  their  friend  George  R.  Russell  had  given  the 
Address. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    FUGITIVE    SLAVE   ACT    IN    BOSTON. 

FROM  1846  to  1850  events  moved  fast  in  the  degra 
dation  of  the  North  and  the  triumphant  progress  of 
the  slavemasters.  A  slight  check  was  given  them  by 
the  honest  and  manly  administration  of  General 
Taylor,  who,  although  a  slaveholder,  and  the  father- 
in-law  of  that  notorious  leader  of  the  South,  Jefferson 
Davis,  had  yet  a  soldier's  training,  and  a  patriot's  love 
for  his  country.  He  was  elected  in  1848,  took  office 
in  1849,  and  was  soon  beset,  as  his  predecessors  and 
successors  were,  by  the  slavemasters  with  their  inso 
lent  and  treasonable  demands.  Two  or  three  wit 
nesses  (Mr.  Hamlin,  afterwards  Vice-President,1  Thur- 
low  Weed,  and  General  Pleasanton),  testify  to  the 
spirit  with  which,  in  January,  1850,  General  Taylor 


i  Hannibal  Hamlin,  born  in  i8og,  and  just  deceased  (July,  1891), 
was  a  Democratic  politician  in  Maine  for  many  years  before  1850, 
and  at  this  time  was  a  Democratic  Senator  from  that  State.  He 
belonged  to  the  anti-slavery  Democracy,  however,  like  John  P. 
Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  S.  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  and  in  1856 
became  a  Republican.  He  was  elected  Vice-President  on  the  ticket 
with  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860,  but  displaced  from  the  ticket  in  1864, 
to  make  room  for  Andrew  Johnson,  at  the  request  of  Lincoln  him 
self.  His  testimony  in  this  matter  cannot  be  impeached.  That  of 
Mr.  Weed  has  been  called  in  question  by  Mr.  Stephens  ;  but  it  must 
be  in  substance  correct.  The  passage  soon  to  be  quoted  from  Web 
ster  confirms  it. 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  233 

met  them.  The  particular  persons  were  three  South 
ern  Whigs,  A.  H.  Stephens,  Robert  Toombs,  and  a 
North  Carolinian  named  Clingman.  They  had  just 
left  President  Taylor  in  the  White  House,  when  Mr. 
Hamlin  called  on  him,  and  this  is  Mr.  Hamlin's 
account : 

As  I  was  approaching  the  door  to  the  President's  room, 
Messrs.  Toombs  and  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  came  out.  They 
were  excited  in  their  manner  to  a  degree  that  attracted  my 
notice.  I  found  the  President  alone  and  much  excited.  He 
appeared  like  an  enraged  lion  in  a  cage  ;  in  fact,  he  must  have 
walked  across  the  room  three  or  four  times  before  he  even 
noticed  me.  He  then  spoke  to  me,  but  still  continued  pacing 
the  room.  "  Mr.  Hamlin,"  said  he,  "  what  are  you  doing  in 
the  Senate  with  the  '  Omnibus  Bill  ?  ' '  (This  was  Henry  Clay's 
last  compromise.)  My  reply  was  prompt :  "  Mr.  President,  I 
believe  the  bill  wrong  in  principle,  and  am  doing  what  I  can 
to  defeat  it."  His  rejoinder  was  as  prompt  and  very  decided. 
"  Stand  firm,  don't  yield  !  it  means  disunion,  and  I  am  pained 
to  learn  that  we  have  disunion  men  to  deal  with.  Disunion  is 
treason  " — then,  with  an  expletive,  and  an  emphasis  I  shall 
never  forget,  he  said  "  that  if  they  attempted  to  carry  on  their 
schemes  while  he  was  President,  they  should  be  dealt  with  as 
by  law  they  deserved  and  executed." 

Mr.  Weed,  who  met  Mr.  Hamlin  as  he  came  out,  is 
even  more  explicit  as  to  General  Taylor's  purpose. 
He  found  him  walking  rapidly  to  and  fro.  "  Did  you 
meet  those  damned  traitors  ?  "  he  said.  They  came 
to  talk  with  him  about  slavery  ;  and  when  he  told 
them  he  would  approve  of  any  Constitutional  bill 
that  Congress  would  pass,  and  would  execute  the  laws 
of  the  country,  they  threatened  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  In  reply  he  told  them  that  if  necessary  he 
would  take  command  of  the  army  himself,  and  if  they 


234  DR-    s-    G-    HOWE. 

were  taken  in  rebellion,  he  would  hang  them  with 
less  reluctance  than  he  had  hung  deserters  and  spies 
in  Mexico.  Growing  more  calm,  he  took  a  seat,  and 
told  Mr.  Weed  that  these  men  presumed  upon  his 
acquiescence  in  their  treason,  because  he  was  a  South 
ern  man  and  a  slaveholder  ;  but  he  had  looked  care 
fully  into  the  question  since  he  became  President,  and 
was  now  satisfied  that  the  exactions  and  purposes  of 
the  South  were  intolerable  and  revolutionary.  He 
added  that  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  chief  conspirator 
in  the  scheme  which  Toombs,  Stephens,  and  Cling- 
man  had  broached  to  him. '  There  is  a  letter  of 
Daniel  Webster's  to  Franklin  Haven,  of  Boston, 
dated  September  12,  1850,  two  months  after  Taylor's 
death,  that  bears  on  this  same  subject  of  his  firmness 
against  the  Democrats.  Webster,  who,  by  this  time, 
had  been  persuaded  by  his  friends  and  his  hopes  to 
desert  the  cause  of  the  North,  writes  : 

General  Taylor  was  an  honest  and  patriotic  man  ;  but  he  had 
quite  enough  of  that  quality  which,  when  a  man  is  right  we  call 
firmness,  and  when  he  is  wrong,  obstinacy.  What  has  been 
called  his  plan  was  simply  to  admit  California  under  her  free 
constitution,  and  to  let  the  Territories  alone  altogether,  till 
they  could  come  in  as  States.  General  Taylor  told  me,  in  the 
last  conversation  I  had  with  him,  that  he  preferred  California 
should  not  come  in  at  all  rather  than  that  she  should  come  in 
bringing  the  Territories  on  her  back.  And  if  he  had  lived  it 
might  have  been  doubtful  if  any  general  settlement  would  have 
been  made.  He  was  a  soldier,  and  had  a  little  fancy,  I  am 
afraid,  to  see  how  easily  any  military  movement  by  Texas  could 
have  been  put  down.  His  motto  was,  vi-et  armis.  He  had  a 
soldier's  foresight,  and  saw  quite  clearly  what  would  be  the 


See  "  Life  of  Thurlovv  Weed,"  vol.  II.,  pp.  176-178. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  235 

result  if  the  Texas  militia  should  march  into  New  Mexico  l  and 
there  be  met  by  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States.  But 
that  he  had  a  statesman's  foresight  and  foresaw  what  might 
happen  if  blood  should  be  shed  in  a  contest  between  the  United 
States  and  one  of  the  Southern  States,  is  more  than  I  am  ready 
to  affirm. 

General  Taylor  died  in  July,  1850,  and  from  that 
time  till  Abraham  Lincoln  took  the  chair  in  March, 
1861,  our  Presidents  grew  more  and  more  subservient 
to  the  slave-power.  Fillmore,  urged  on  by  Webster, 
signed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  in  September,  1850, 
and  Pierce,  his  successor,  enforced  it  in  Boston. 
Under  this  act,  the  earliest  slave  case  in  Boston,  well 
known  at  the  time,  was  that  of  William  and  Ellen 
Craft.  Theodore  Parker,  writing  to  James  Martineau 
in  London,  November  n,  1850,  two  months  after  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act  passed,  thus  tells  this  tale  :  "  The 
Crafts  have  been  in  Boston  nearly  two  years;  are 
sober  and  industrious  people.  She  is  a  seamstress, 
he  a  cabinetmaker.  They  are  members  of  my  parish. 
A  few  weeks  ago  there  came  a  ruffian  from  Macon,  in 
Georgia,  by  the  name  of  Hughes — he  is  a  jailer  at 
home — with  authority  to  seize  and  carry  off  the  two 
fugitives.  He  applied  to  the  proper  officer,  got  his 
warrant,  and  secured  the  service  of  the  marshal.  All 
was  ready  for  the  seizure — but  William  armed  him 
self  with  two  revolvers  and  a  substantial  dirk,  and 


1  This  was  one  of  the  threats  of  the  Southern  "fire-eaters"  of 
that  period — the  object  being,  as  it  afterwards  was  in  marching  the 
Missouri  militia  into  Kansas,  to  make  sure  of  another  slave  State. 
Compare  the  firmness  of  Taylor  in  1850,  with  the  weakness  of 
Pierce  in  1855-56. 


236  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

was  ready  to  kill  any  one  who  should  attempt  to 
kidnap  him.  His  wife  was  concealed  by  some  friends 
who  kept  her  safe  and  sound.  After  the  danger  was 
over  Craft's  friends  thought  it  wiser  for  them  to  go 
England,  that  you  may  see  what  sort  of  men  and 
women  we  make  slaves  of  in  'the  Model  Republic.' 
My  grandfather  fought  at  the  battle  of  Lexington 
against  *  the  British,'  but  now  I  am  obliged  to  look 
to  *  the  British  '  for  protection  for  the  liberty  of  two 
of  my  own  parishioners  who  have  committed  no 
wrong  against  any  one." 

The  "  friends "  who  concealed  Ellen  Craft  were 
Theodore  Parker  and  his  wife,  at  their  house  on 
Exeter  Place.;  and  it  was  Dr.  Howe,  with  his  "vigi 
lance  committee,"  who  "persuaded"  Hughes,  the 
slave-catcher,  to  leave  Boston  without  serving  his 
warrant  on  the  Crafts.  Hughes  had  vowed  he 
would  carry  them  back  to  Georgia.  Parker  had 
called  once  at  the  United  States  Hotel,  where  the 
two  Georgians  were  ;  he  called  again  on  October  30, 
1850,  and  was  introduced  to  Hughes,  who  said  to 
Parker :  "  I  hear  you  are  a  minister  and  a  great 
moralist,  but  this  don't  look  much  like  it."  "What 
does  not  look  like  it?"  "Mobs  and  violence."  "But 
I  came  to  prevent  that — you  must  be  satisfied  that 
you  cannot  carry  William  and  Ellen  Craft  out  of 
Boston."  Hughes  said  he  was  satisfied  of  that,  and 
sneaked  away  southward  that  afternoon.  A  week 
later  the  two  fugitives  were  legally  married  by  Mr. 
Parker,  who  gave  them  a  Bible  and  a  sword  for 
their  spiritual  and  physical  salvation,  and  they  soon 
sailed  for  England.  William  Craft  and  his  wife  lived 
in  England  for  some  fifteen  years,  then  they  returned 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  237 

to  Boston  and   afterwards  went  to  Georgia,  where 
they  lived  in  security  for  years. 

This  affair  of  the  Crafts  took  place  soon  after  the 
passage  of  Senator  Mason's  Fugitive  Slave  Bill. 
Other  cases  followed  in  all  parts  of  the  country; 
some  of  much  pathos,  and  some  of  great  atrocity. 
They  had  much  to  do  with  the  uprising  of  Northern 
manliness  against  the  wicked  law;  but  so  completely 
have  circumstances  now  changed,  that  it  is  difficult 
for  the  present  generation  to  comprehend  that  such 
things  ever  took  place.  Listen  then  to  the  recital  of 
a  case,  by  a  man  conspicuous  for  his  moderate  opin 
ions;  and  you  will  understand  why  the  "  Compro 
mises  of  1850  "  were  so  provocative  of  indignation  in 
Massachusetts.  Rev.  J.  S.  C.  Abbott,  a  well-known 
historian,  writing  from  Bowdoin  College  in  January, 
1852,  told  this  story  of  one  case,  which,  within  his 
knowledge,  occurred  in  Boston  in  1851: 

A  colored  girl  eighteen  years  of  age,  a  few  years  ago,  escaped 
from  slavery  at  the  South.  Through  scenes  of  adventure  and 
peril  she  found  her  way  to  Boston,  obtained  employment, 
secured  friends,  and  became  a  consistent  member  of  a  Method 
ist  Church.  She  became  interested  in  a  very  worthy  young 
man,  of  her  own  complexion,  who  was  a  member  of  the  same 
Church.  They  wrere  soon  married.  Their  home,  though  hum 
ble,  was  the  abode  of  piety  and  contentment.  Industrious, 
temperate,  and  frugal,  all  their  wants  were  supplied.  Seven 
years  passed  away ;  they  had  two  little  boys,  one  six  and  the 
other  four  years  of  age.  These  children,  the  sons  of  a  free 
father,  but  of  a  mother  who  had  been  a  slave,  by  the  laws  of 
our  Southern  States,  were  doomed  to  their  mother's  fate. 
These  Boston  boys,  born  beneath  the  shadow  of  Faneuil  Hall, 
the  sons  of  a  free  citizen  of  Boston,  and  educated  in  the  Boston 
free  schools,  were,  by  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution, 


238  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

admitted  to  be  slaves,  the  property  of  a  South  Carolinian 
planter.  The  Boston  father  had  no  right  to  his  own  sons.  The 
law,  however,  had  long  been  considered  a  dead  letter.  The 
Christian  mother,  as  she  morning  and  evening  bowed  with  her 
children  in  prayer,  felt  that  they  were  safe  from  the  slave- 
hunter,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  the  churches,  the  schools, 
and  the  free  institutions  of  Massachusetts. 

The  F  ugitive  Slave  Law  was  enacted.  It  revived  the  hopes 
of  the  slave-owners.  A  young,  healthy,  energetic  mother,  with 
two  fine  boys,  was  a  rich  prize.  She  would  make  an  excellent 
breeder.  Good  men  began  to  say :  "  We  must  enforce  this 
law ;  it  is  one  of  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution."  Christ 
ian  ministers  began  to  preach :  '•  The  voice  of  the  law  is  the 
voice  of  God.  There  is  no  higher  rule  of  duty.  We  must  send 
back  the  fugitive  and  her  children,  even  though  we  take  our 
sister  from  the  sacramental  table  of  our  common  Saviour."  The 
poor  woman  was  panicstricken.  Her  friends  gathered  around 
her  and  trembled  for  her.  Her  husband  was  absent  from  home, 
a  seaman  on  board  one  of  our  Liverpool  packets.  She  was 
afraid  to  get  out  of  doors  lest  some  one  from  the  South  should 
see  her,  and  recognize  her.  One  day,  as  she  was  going  to  the 
grocery  for  some  provisions,  her  quick  and  anxious  eye  caught 
a  glimpse  of  a  man  prowling  around,  whom  she  immediately 
recognized  as  from  the  vicinity  of  her  old  home  of  slavery. 
Almost  fainting  with  terror,  she  hastened  home,  and  taking  her 
two  children  by  the  hand,  fled  to  the  house  of  a  friend.  She 
and  her  trembling  children  were  hid  in  the  garret.  In  less  than 
one  hour  after  her  escape,  the  officer,  with  a  writ,  came  for  her 
arrest. 

It  was  a  dark  and  stormy  day.  The  rain,  freezing  as  it  fell, 
swept  in  floods  through  the  streets  of  Boston.  Night  came, 
cold,  black,  and  tempestuous.  At  midnight,  her  friends  took 
her  in  a  hack,  and  conveyed  her,  with  her  children,  to  the  house 
of  her  pastor.  A  prayer-meeting  had  been  appointed  there, 
at  that  hour,  in  behalf  of  their  suffering  sister.  A  small  group 
of  stricken  hearts  were  assembled.  They  kneeled  in  prayer. 
The  poor  mother,  thus  hunted  from  her  home,  her  husband  far 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  239 

away,  sobbed,  in  the  bitterness  of  her  anguish,  as  though  her 
heart  would  break.  Her  little  children,  trembling  before  a 
doom,  the  enormity  of  which  they  were  incapable  of  appre 
ciating,  cried  loudly  and  uncontrollably.  The  humble  minister 
caught  the  contagion.  His  voice  became  inarticulate  through 
emotion.  Bowing  his  head,  he  ceased  to  pray,  and  yielded 
himself  to  the  sobbings  of  sympathy  and  grief.  The  floods  of 
anguish  were  unloosed.  Groanings  and  lamentations  filled 
the  room.  No  one  could  pray.  Before  the  Lord,  they  could 
only  weep.  Other  fugitives  were  there,  trembling  in  view  of 
a  doom  more  dreadful  to  them  than  death.  After  an  hour  of 
weeping  (for  the  voice  of  prayer  had  passed  away  into  the  sub 
limity  of  unutterable  anguish)  they  took  this  Christian  mother 
and  her  children  in  a  hack,  and  conveyed  them  to  one  of  the 
Cunard  steamers,  which,  fortunately,  was  to  sail  for  Halifax 
the  next  day.  They  took  them  in  the  gloom  of  midnight, 
through  the  tempest-swept  streets,  lest  the  slave-hunter  should 
meet  them.  Her  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  church  raised  a 
little  money  from  their  scanty  means  to  pay  her  passage,  and 
to  save  her,  for  a  few  clays,  from  starving,  after  her  first  arrival 
in  the  cold  land  of  strangers.  Her  husband  soon  returned  to 
Boston,  to  find  his  home  desolate,  his  wife  and  his  children 
exiles  in  a  foreign  land. 

I  think  that  this  narrative  may  be  relied  upon  as  accurate. 
I  received  the  facts  from  the  lips  of  one,  a  member  of  the 
church,  who  was  present  at  that  midnight "  weeping-meeting," 
before  the  Lord.  Such  is  slavery  in  Boston,  in  the  year  1852. 
Has  the  North  nothing  to  do  with  slavery  ? 

Theodore  Parker  says  in  his  Diary  for  November 
6,  1850:  "  Saw  Dr.  Howe  this  afternooon  ;  he  looks 
better,  in  fine  health  and  spirits.  I  went  with  him  to 
the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  of  Free-Soilers.  Sumner  was 
on  his  legs — a  fine  speaker,  a  very  sincere  and  good 
fellow,  only  he  wants  courage.  Howe  is  braver  and 
richer  in  ideas,  but  not  so  well  trained  for  literary 


240  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

work/'  Yet  this  very  speech  of  Sumner,  given  on  the 
eve  of  the  State  election,  probably  made  him  Senator 
the  next  spring.  In  it  he  attacked  the  new  Fugitive 
Slave  Act,  and  declared  that  he  would  never  obey  it, 
because,  "from  beginning  to  end  it  sets  at  naught  the 
best  principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  very  laws 
of  God."  He  added  :  "  Into  the  immortal  catalogue  of 
national  crimes  it  has  now  passed,  drawing  by  inex 
orable  necessity  its  authors  also,  and  chiefly  him,  who, 
as  President  of  the  United  States,  set  his  name  to  the 
Bill. *  I  believe  that  this  Bill  will  be  executed  here. 
Fugitive  slaves  are  the  heroes  of  our  age.  In  sacri 
ficing  to  this  foul  enactment,  we  violate  every  senti 
ment  of  hospitality,  every  whispering  of  the  heart, 
every  commandment  cf  religion."  Following  up  this 
bold  declaration,  Sumner's  first  long  speech  in  the 
Senate,  in  1852,  was  upon  his  motion  to  repeal  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act ;  and  though  it  failed  then,  it  suc 
ceeded  twelve  years  later,  when  Sumner  carried 
through  the  Senate  (June  28,  1863)  by  a  vote  of  27  to 
12,  a  bill  already  passed  in  the  House,  repealing  both 
Webster's  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  that  of  Washing 
ton,  which  was  passed  in  1793.  At  this  time  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  had 
been  in  force  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  slavery  only 
existed  in  a  few  of  the  border  States.  Twenty  years 


1  This  was  Millard  Fillmore  ;  but  the  author  of  the  bill  was  Mason, 
of  Virginia,  and  its  chief  supporter  in  Massachusetts  was  Daniel 
Webster.  Mason  introduced  it  as  a  ruse  to  get  a  pretext  for  dis 
union,  not  expecting  it  would  pass  ;  but  Webster  took  it  up  as  a 
means  of  gaining  the  favor  of  the  South,  and  his  influence  carried  it 
through. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  24! 

after    the    annexation    of    Texas  (December,  1845), 
Texas  itself  was  a  free  State.1 

The  wealthy  and  commercial  classes  of  Boston  and 
the  other  Northern  cities,  who  had  favored  the  pas 
sage  of  the  "Compromises  of  1850,"  slave-catching 
bill  and  all,  were  little  aware  how  revolting  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law  was  to  the  plain  people  of  the  North. 
Nothing  did  so  much  (until  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
of  1857  came)  to  rouse  the  North  against  the  tyranny 
of  the  slave-masters,  as  did  this  odious  enactment. 
The  Garrisonian  Abolitionists  seized  upon  it  at  once, 
and  for  once  they  had  public  opinion  warmly  on  their 
side.  When  the  bill  passed  Samuel  A.  Eliot  repre 
sented  Boston  in  Congress,  and  voted  for  it.  Charles 
Devens,  afterwards  an  honored  general  and  judge, 
was  the  marshal  of  Massachusetts.  At  the  meeting 
of  the  Massachusets  Anti-Slavery  Society,  January, 
1851,  Wendell  Phillips  offered  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  in  regard  to  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  in  his  votes 
on  the  Territorial  and  Fugitive  Slave  Bills,  we  will  not  under 
take  to  decide  whether  he  represented  or  misrepresented  his 


1  Senator  Foster,  of  Connecticut,  by  no  means  a  radical  politician, 
said  in  debate  on  the  repeal  of  Webster's  Act  :  "  In  my  opinion  it 
was  a  most  iniquitous  measure,  and  certainly  most  obnoxious  to  the 
people  of  the  Free  States  from  the  day  of  its  passage  to  the  present 
hour  (January  19,  1864).  That  bill  was  passed  in  a  period  of  great 
excitement ;  a  malicious  and  malignant  spirit  had  been  excited. 
Sectional  and  partisan  feeling  raged  over  the  land.  An  arrogant 
and  defiant  party  in  their  pride  of  power  passed  that  bill.  From  the 
first  day  I  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  body  until  now,  I  should 
have  cheerfully  voted  for  its  repeal  at  any  time."  Yet  only  12  Sena 
tors  had  voted  against  this  bill  when  it  passed  in  1850,  and  the  vote 
in  the  House  was  109  to  76 — many  Northern  "  Doughfaces  "  dodg 
ing  the  vote. 


242  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

constituency ;  but  since  neither  he  nor  his  friends  have 
attempted  any  defence  of  either  of  those  measures  except  as 
necessary  to  avert  dangers  which  nothing  but  the  grossest 
ignorance  could  believe  to  exist,  his  base  selfishness  and  craven 
spirit  at  that  crisis  make  all  former  Northern  treason  look  white 
by  the  side  of  the  blackness  of  his  infamy ;  and  as  long  as  New 
England  retains  any  spark  of  the  spirit  or  of  the  pride  of  her 
ancestry,  his  memory  will  be  held  in  loathing  and  abhorrence. 

Mr.  Phillips  referred  to  the  vote  which  Mr.  Eliot 
gave  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  instructing 
the  Massachusetts  delegation  in  Congress  to  oppose 
all  extension  of  slavery  ;  and  to  his  subsequent  vote, 
at  Washington,  as  one  of  that  delegation,  in  favor  of 
all  the  Compromise  measures  with  Slavery,  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law  included.  It  was  base  fear  for  the 
Tariff,  said  he,  and  an  equally  base  and  false  plea, 
that  the  law  of  1850  is  no  worse  than  the  law  of  1793, 
that  led  him  to  give  this  disgraceful  vote.  "  If  the 
law  of  1850  is  no  worse  than  that  of  1793,  how  comes 
it  that  within  four  months  we  have  had,  here  in  Bos 
ton,  two  different  attempts  to  recover  fugitive  slaves, 
and  that  they  are  occurring  by  scores  throughout  the 
Northern  States,  and  so  much  more  frequently  than 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  nation  ?  It  becomes 
our  duty  to  express  our  moral  contempt  and  indig 
nation  at  Mr.  Eliot's  vote  and  whole  course  in  this 
matter,  and  to  show  that  the  presence  of  the  slave- 
catchers  in  our  streets  is  a  consequent  and  a  fitting 
commentary  on  his  vote." 

That  satirical  abolitionist,  Edmund  Quincy,  a  few 
days  after  wrote  thus  about  Marshal  Devens  : 

The  blame  of  there  having  been  no  slave  caught  in  Boston 
seems  to  be  gathered  upon  his  devoted  head.  There  was  an 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  243 

attempt  to  have  him  decapitated  for  not  restoring  the  Crafts  to 
the  patriarchal  bosoms  they  had  ignorantly  fled  from  in  Macon. 
But  as  he  was  ready  to  arrest  Craft  if  Hughes  or  Knight  would 
point  him  out,  President  Fillmore  thought  the  request, 
although  it  came  from  the  right  side  of  the  line,  a  little  on  the 
wrong  side  of  reasonable.  It  seemed  hardly  fair  to  oblige  the 
marshal  to  know  every  fugitive  slave  within  his  district  by 
sight.  Two  or  three  weeks  ago  it  was  rumored  that  there  was 
another  slave  hunt  on  foot  in  Boston.  I  do  not  know  who  the 
Nimrod  was,  the  mighty  hunter  whose  game  was  man,  but  it 
was  reported  and  believed  that  the  whipper-in  of  the  pack  was 
a  New  York  lawyer.  Now,  a  warrant  was  issued,  the  marshal 
appointed  special  deputies,  the  quarry  was  started  ;  but  some 
how  it  was  never  caught.  The  huntsmen,  whether  at  fault  or  not, 
were  disappointed.  And  the  blame,  it  seems,  is  laid  on  the 
shoulders  of  Marshal  Devens.  But  it  is  understood  that  the 
slave  in  question  was  of  Craft's  way  of  thinking,  and  that  he 
was  prepared  with  the  same  persuasives  that  Turpin  found 
effectual  with  the  bishop's  coachman : 

"  But  Dick  put  a  couple  of  balls  in  his  nob, 
And  purwailed  on  him  to  stop," 

and  that  this  was  so  well  understood  that  the  marshal  and  his 
men  thought  discretion  the  better  part  of  valor.  On  this  state 
ment  of  facts,  it  is  understood  that  a  complaint  has  been  en 
tered  against  the  marshal,  and  that  he  has  gone  on  to  head 
quarters  to  justify  himself.  I  think  he  will  not  be  able  to  do 
it,  and  that  he  will  have  to  give  place  to  a  worthier  successor. 
City  Marshal  Tukey  and  Deputy  Sheriff  Watson  Freeman,1  who 
distinguished  himself  by  the  constitutional  courtesy  with  which 
he  treated  Hughes  and  Knight  under  the  affliction  which  was 
traitorously  visited  upon  them  by  the  Vigilance  Committee,  are 
said  to  be  the  two  prominent  candidates.  I  shall  recommend 
either  of  them  as  eminently  worthy  of  this  post  of  danger  and 


1  Freeman  was   in  fact  marshal  under  Buchanan,  and  attempted 
to  kidnap  me.  F.  B.  S. 


244  DR-    S-    G-    HOWE. 

of  honor,  when    President    Fillmore    applies    to    me    for    my 
advice. 

At  this  time  a  North  Carolina  newspaper  gave  this 
list  of  slave  prices  : 

"  We  give  the  sales  of  a  few  that  have  been  effected 
from  the  ist  of  January,  1851.  We  note  as  follows  : 
Women,  aged  from  28  to  45  years,  brought  from  $665 
to  $895  ;  a  family  (mother  and  three  children,  very 
ordinary,  but  young),  §1,525  ;  a  man,  aged  45,  his 
wife  and  two  children,  $1,810  ;  a  man,  no  age  given, 
$1,118;  and  a  woman  and  four  children,  $1,850.  The 
above  sales  were  either  for  cash  or  ninety  days'  credit, 
interest  added,  with  approved  notes  payable  at  bank. 
These  sales  and  the  annual  hirings  were  made  at  pub 
lic  auction  ;  others  were  hired  privately  at  prices 
ranging  from  $150  to  $300,  as  to  quality,  and  business 
to  be  pursued." 

The  exact  market  value  of  a  Boston  church  mem 
ber,  with  her  two  children,  was  therefore  about 
$1,500  by  this  scale  of  prices — enough  to  tempt  the 
cupidity  of  those  wretches  who  dealt  in  human  flesh 
in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  A  few  years  later 
than  this  (in  1854)  Anthony  Burns,  a  fugitive  from 
Virginia  was  seized,  sent  back  into  slavery  by  Edward 
Greeley  Loring,  a  Slave  Law  Commissioner  of  Boston, 
and  at  the  time  Judge  of  Probate  in  Suffolk  County, 
but  removed  from  that  office  in  1858  by  Governor 
Banks.  Several  of  the  rich  men  of  Boston  combined 
to  purchase  him  from  his  master,  and  this  was  the 
sequence  of  events  in  his  case  :  The  chief  movers  in 
the  matter  of  purchase  were  Hamilton  Willis  and 
Rev.  L.  A.  Grimes,  a  colored  pastor — the  latter  collect- 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  2/5 

ing  most  of  the  subscriptions.  The  price  named  by  Sut- 
tle,  the  master,  was  $1,200  and  the  money  was  raised. 
Among  the  subscribers  were  Charles  P.  Curtis  and 
Thomas  B.  Curtis,  each  for  $100;  Charles  H.  Mills 
and  Augustus  Perrin,  $50  each  ;  Glidden  &  Williams, 
$50  ;  Samuel  A.  Eliot  (father  of  President  Eliot),  $50  ; 
and  Hamilton  Willis,  Moses  Grant,  Winslow  Lewis, 
Samuel  Johnson,  Andrew  Carney,  Jacob  Sleeper,  etc., 
$25  each.  George  Baty  Blake  authorized  Mr.  Willis 
to  receive  from  him  "  any  amount  you  might  think 
proper  to  call  on  me  for." 

Why,  then,  was  not  Burns  handed  over  to  his  friends 
in  Boston?  Col.  Suttle  was  about  to  draw  up  the 
agreement  in  the  office  of  Watson  Freeman,  the  Mar 
shal  of  Massachusetts,  May  31,  1854,  when  B.  F. 
Hallet,  the  District  Attorney,  came  in  and  talked  with 
Suttle,  who  then  said  to  Mr.  Willis  :  "I  must  with 
draw  what  I  have  done  with  you."  Thereupon  Hal- 
let  said,  pointing  to  the  spot  where  Bachelder  had 
been  killed  by  Martin  Stowell,  resisting  a  rescue  of 
Burns,  "  That  blood  must  be  avenged."  On  Friday, 
June  2,  when  Mr.  Willis  went  to  receive  Burns  on 
board  the  revenue  cutter,  which  carried  him  from 
Boston,  he  was  told  by  Mr.  Parker,  counsel  for  the 
slaveholder,  "  Col.  Suttle  has  pledged  himself  to  Mr. 
Hallet  that  he  will  not  sell  his  boy  till  he  gets  him 
home."  It  was  therefore  a  Boston  lawyer  who  pre 
vented  the  sale.  Burns  was  carried  away  by  force, 
lodged  in  the  prison  at  Richmond  and  loaded  with 
irons  as  a  punishment  for  running  away,  until  Novem 
ber  (five  months),  when  he  fell  violently  ill,  and  the 
physician  ordered  his  irons  taken  off.  He  was  then 
put  on  the  auction  block  and  sold  to  a  North  Caro- 


246  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Una  slave  trader,  McDaniel,  who  bid  him  off  for 
$910.  Suttle  lost  $300  and  more  by  taking  Hallet's 
advice,  but  McDaniel  made  $400,  for  he  delivered 
Burns  to  his  Boston  purchasers  in  Baltimore  subse 
quently  for  $1,300  and  expenses.  This  bargain  he 
was  compelled  to  keep  secret  in  Virginia,  for  "had  it 
been  known,"  says  Mr.  Dana,  "  that  Burns  was  to  be 
restored,  there  would  have  been  danger  to  his  life." 
McDaniel  was  obliged  to  carry  him  away  from  Rich 
mond  by  night  for  fear  of  a  mob.  He  reached  Bos 
ton  early  in  1855,  and  told  Mr.  Dana  this  story  in 
March  of  that  year.  He  died  in  Canada  in  1862. 

This  was  the  last  of  the  Boston  slave  cases,  in  all  of 
which  Dr.  Howe  took  an  active  part.  The  rescue  of 
Shadrach  in  the  winter  of  1850-51,  the  rendition  of 
Sims  in  April,  1851,  and  the  arrest  and  return  of 
Burns  in  1854,  called  forth  the  services  of  the  Vigi 
lance  Committee  of  1846,  of  which  he  continued  to 
be  Chairman,  so  long  as  there  was  any  danger  to  the 
fugitives. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARLES    SUMNER    IN    THE    SENATE. 

WHEN  Burns  was  carried  away  from  Boston,  after 
a  vain  attempt  to  rescue  him,  Charles  Sumner  had 
been  for  three  years  the  successor  of  Webster  in  the 
Senate  at  Washington.  But  he  owed  his  election,  in 
April,  1851,  to  the  indignation  felt  in  Massachusetts 
against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  as  much  as  to  any 
cause.  The  contest  over  the  election  was  long  and 
doubtful ;  and  Dr.  Howe  was  one  of  the  friends  of 
Sumner  who  guided  it  to  its  final  issue  of  success. 
Writing  early  in  February,  1851,  Edmund  Quincy, 
skeptical  as  to  the  final  result,  but  well  informed  con 
cerning  the  hostility  to  Sumner,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  There  has  been  another  unsuccessful  attempt  to  elect  Mr. 
Sumner  to  the  Senate.  He  came  nearer  to  success  than  at  any 
former  time.  On  one  ballot  he  lacked  only  two,  and  on  the 
other  but  three,  of  a  majority.  If  all  the  Free-Soilers  had 
been  present,  he  would  have  been  chosen.  There  is  a  report 
that  one  man  chosen  as  a  Free-Soiler  voted  for  Mr.  Winthrop. 
But  for  this  I  do  not  vouch,  nor  did  I  hear  his  name.  The 
Free-Soilers  and  the  portion  of  the  Democrats  that  act  with 
them  in  good  faith,  are  still  confident  of  final  success.  But  I 
apprehend  there  will  always  be  the  necessary  one  or  two  either 
conveniently  ill  or  absent  or  treacherous.  The  Post  and  Hal- 
let  wing  of  the  Democrats  are  almost  beside  themselves  with 
rage  and  fear.  Their  papers  foam  at  the  mouth,  and  talk  like 
things  possessed,  in  the  view  of  anybody  but  a  slave-catching 
Whig  or  Democrat  being  sent  to  the  Senate  from  Massachu 
setts." 

(«+*) 


248  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

But  Sumner,  whose  cause  was  very  skilfully  cham 
pioned  by  Dr.  Howe,  among  others,  was  finally 
chosen  by  one  vote,  in  April,  1851,  and  took  his  seat  in 
the  Senate  as  the  successor  of  Webster  the  next  win 
ter.  At  that  time  Webster  was  Secretary  of  State 
under  Fillmore,  having  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Sen 
ate  in  July,  1850,  when  Mr.  Winthrop  was  appointed 
for  a  few  months.  Though  no  man  could  be  less 
homicidal  than  Sumner,  he  might  almost  be  said  to 
have  acquired  his  Senatorship  as  the  old  priest  of 
Diana  at  Nemi  obtained  his  place — by  slaying  his  pre 
decessor.1  For  after  the  spring  of  185 1,  in  which  Sum 
ner  was  chosen  Senator,  the  power  and  the  life  of 
Webster  withered  away.  He  still  made  speeches  and 
held  his  followers  together,  but  his  day  as  a  leader  of 
the  people  had  gone,  never  to  return.  It  was  a  sad 
descent  from  that  moral  height  in  which  the  narra 
tive  of  his  friend  Ticknor  places  him,  when  the 
iniquity  of  Texas  was  first  broached  and  first  opposed 
by  him.  Poor  Webster!  "  letting  'I  dare  not,'  wait 
upon  'I  would,'"  until  age  and  ambition  turned  his 
noble  purposes  into  timid  and  selfish  schemes,  which 
he  vainly  sought  to  cover  with  the  cloak  of  patriot 
ism.  The.  words  of  his  Texas  address,  in  which  true 
patriotism  glows,  will  henceforth  rise  up  against  him 
and  the  evil  deeds  in  his  last  two  years  of  unhappy 
life. 

Sumner  had  been  preceded  in  Congress  by  his 
friends  Dr.  Palfrey,  Charles  Allen,  and  Horace  Mann. 
The  two  last-named  were  chosen  in  1848,  Mann  on 
the  3d  of  April,  to  fill  the  vacancy  of  John  Quincy 

1  See  Kenan's  Pretrede  Nemi  mhist<Drarnes  Philosophes"  Paris, 
1888. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  249 

Adams,  and  Allen  in  November,  at  the  regular  elec 
tion.  Mann  favored  the  election  of  Winthrop,  of 
Massachusetts,  as  Speaker,  but  Dr.  Palfrey  and  Judge 
Allen  voted  against  him,  as  Dr.  Palfrey  had  done  in 
December,  1847,  when  Mr.  Winthrop  was  chosen.  It 
was  this  vote  of  1847  which  called  out  the  indignation 
of  State  street  and  the  "  Cotton  Whigs  "  against  Dr. 
Palfrey,  and  thus  occasioned  the  inimitable  satire  of 
Lowell  to  fall  on  them  in  the  "  Biglow  Papers." 
Reporting  the  speech  of  "  Increase  Doughface, 
Esquire,"  at  a  caucus  in  State  street,  Hosea  Biglow 
represented  this  "  Cotton  Whig"  as  thus  expressing 
himself  : 

No  ?     Hez  he  ?     He  haint,  though  ?     Wut  ?     Voted  agin  him  ? 

If  the  bird  of  our  country  could  ketch  him,  she'd  skin  him. 

Who  ever'd  ha'  thought  sech  a  pisonous  rig 

Would  be  run  by  a  chap  thet  wuz  chose  fur  a  Wig  ? 

"  We  knowed  wut  his  principles  wuz  'fore  we  sent  him  ?  " 

Wut  wuz  ther'  in  them  from  this  vote  to  prevent  him  ? 

A  marciful  Providunce  fashioned  us  holler, 

O'  purpose  thet  we  might  our  principles  swaller, 

Wer'n't  we  gittin'  on  prime  with  our  hot  and  cold  blowin', 

A  condemnin'  the  war  whilst  we  kep'  it  agoin'  ? 

•'  Wut's  your  name  ?     Come,  I  see  ye,  you  up-country  feller, 

You've  put  me  out  several  times  with  your  beller  ; 

Out  with  it !     Wut  ?     Biglow  ?     I  say  nothin'  furder, 

That  feller  would  like  nothin'  better'n  a  murder, 

He's  a  traitor,  blasphemer,  an'  wut  ruther  worse  is, 

He  puts  all  his  ath'ism  in  dreffle  bad  verses. 

Wy,  he  goes  agin  war,  agin  indirect  taxes, 

Agin  sellin  wild  lands  'cept  to  settlers  with  axes, 

Agin  holdin'  slaves,  though  he  knows  its  the  corner 

Our  libbaty  rests  on — the  mis'able  scorner  ! " 

All  these  men  were  friends  of  Dr.   Howe, — Judge 


250  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Allen  less  intimate  than  the  others — and  all  were 
effective  antagonists  of  the  South  in  Congress.  When 
Webster  abandoned  his  principles  in  1850,  they  all 
turned  against  him,  and  used  their  great  influence  in 
Massachusetts  to  destroy  the  hold  he  might  have  on 
the  people  of  that  State.  Judge  Allen  was  spec 
ially  called  upon  to  do  this,  for  to  him,  as  well  as  to 
S.  C.  Phillips,  had  Webster  in  1844  imparted  his  sen 
timents  concerning  Texas  and  slavery,  which  Allen 
fully  shared.1  Both  had  been  present  when  Webster 
composed  and  dictated,  at  his  office  on  Tremont 
street,  the  address  which  has  already  been  cited,  and 
both  had  sought  in  September,  1846,  to  bring  the 
Whigs  of  Massachusetts  to  the  position  of  Webster 
in  1844.  When,  therefore,  he  abandoned  that  position 
himself,  in  March  1850,  Mr.  Phillips,  Judge  Allen, 
Dr.  Howe  and  all  their  friends  attacked  Webster. 
At  this  time,  or  soon  after  Dr.  Howe  became  an 
editor  of  the  Boston  Daily  Commonwealth,  of  which 
Joseph  Lyman  was  the  responsible  editor,  and  in 
which  Mrs.  Howe  assisted  her  husband  as  literary 
and  political  contributor.  And  at  all  times  Dr. 
Howe's  office  up  stairs  at  50  Bromfield  street,  was  a 


1  So  strong  was  the  feeling  on  Judge  Allen's  part  that  he  pro 
posed  to  withdraw  from  the  electoral  ticket  for  Clay  in  Massa 
chusetts,  when  the  candidate  wrote  his  fatal  letter  concerning  annex 
ation.  Mr.  Phillips  persuaded  him  not  to  do  so  ;  but  when  Clay 
had  been  defeated  he  joined  with  Phillips  in  the  movement  for  a 
State  convention  which  Webster  had  initiated  in  the  spring  of  1844. 
These  two  "  Conscience  Whigs"  were  more  in  Webster's  councils 
in  November  and  December  1844  than  any  other  men,  and  when 
Phillips  in  December  wrote  his  "  Appeal  to  the  People  of  Massa 
chusetts  on  the  Texas  Question"  (published  by  Little  &  Brown 
anonymously),  Webster  read  it,  revised  and  approved  it, 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  251 

rallying-point  and  meeting-place  for  all  the  political 
anti-slavery  men  of  Massachusetts.  In  1855-56  it 
became  a  center  of  efforts  to  make  Kansas  a  free 
State,  and  it  was  there  that  John  Brown  first  met  Dr. 
Howe  in  1857. i 

The  extensive  correspondence  of  Dr.  Howe  with 
Sumner  and  with  Horace  Mann  from  1850  till  the 
the  death  of  his  two  friends,  shows  how  much  they 
depended  on  him  for  counsel,  for  action,  and  for 
reaching  effectively  the  public  ear.  Howe  was  all  the 
more  serviceable  to  them  and  to  the  cause,  for  the 
reason  that  he  had  no  political  ambition,  and  never 
sought  office  or  distinction  for  himself.  He  was  con 
tent,  as  so  many  of  the  political  abolitionists  were,  to 
work  for  the  good  of  the  cause,  without  seeking  a 
recompense  in  glory  or  in  salary.  He  gave  freely  of 
his  own  money,  gave  his  time,  and  associated  with 
men  of  all  sorts  who  could  help  forward  the  good 
work.  He  took  part  in  the  "  coalition"  of  Democrats 
and  anti-slavery  men  ("  Free-Soilers  ")  in  1850-53,  as 
did  Sumner  and  Mann  and  Henry  Wilson  ;  and  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  join  the  newly  formed  Repub 
lican  party  in  1854-55,  when  the  disintegrating  wave 


1  Mrs.  Howe  tells  me  that  after  her  return  from  Rome,  where 
she  had  spent  the  winter  of  1850-51,  she  and  Dr.  Howe  had  desks 
at  the  South  Boston  cottage  (which  she  christened  "  Green  Peace," 
from  its  verdure  and  quiet),  and  composed  their  papers  for  the 
Commonwealth  in  the  same  room,  with  occasional  interchange  of 
ideas.  This  newspaper  was  the  successor  of  Elizur  Wright's  little 
Chronotype,  of  1846-50,  and  also  took  the  place  of  C.  F.  Adams's 
Boston  Daily  Whig  (1845-48)  and  of  Henry  Wilson's  Daily 
Republican,  to  all  of  which  Dr.  Howe  contributed  more  or  less. 
The  Commonwealth  was  revived  as  a  weekly  in  1862,  and  still  sur- 


252  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

of  "  Native  Americanism  "  swept  over  the  country, 
destroying  the  Whig  party  and  weakening  the  Demo 
crats  at  the  North.  When  Sumner  was  brutally 
attacked  by  Brooks  of  South  Carolina  in  the  Senate 
chamber  and  during  the  years  of  his  illness  and  re 
covery,  Dr.  Howe  was  his  faithful  and  judicious 
friend  ;  and  when  the  old  Whigs,  the  Democrats  and 
the  least  progressive  of  the  Republicans  sought  to 
defeat  Sumner's  reelection  in  1862-63,  Dr.  Howe 
joined  with  his  friends  F.  W.  Bird,  W.  S.  Robinson, 
Henry  L.  Pierce  and  many  others  in  thwarting  this 
combination  against  the  radical  Senator  who  favored 
the  instant  emancipation  of  the  slaves  as  a  war  meas 
ure.  By  this  time  the  famous  "  Bird  Club,"1  of  Bos 
ton  had  become  a  political  power,  and  it  was  no 
unusual  thing  to  see  at  its  dinner-table  on  Saturdays 
the  two  Massachusetts  Senators,  Sumner  and  Wilson, 
Governor  Andrew,  half  a  dozen  Congressmen,  with 
Dr.  Howe,  Mr.  Bird,  George  L.  Stearns  and  many 
more  of  the  radical  Republicans  of  New  England. 
Dr.  Howe  continued  to  dine  with  this  club  until  his 
death  in  1876. 


1  The  Bird  Club  originated  about  1850  in  the  dining  together  at 
George  Young's  Hotel  in  Boston  of  a  few  of  the  political  anti- 
slavery  men,  who,  like  Francis  William  Bird  of  Walpole,  were  active 
in  elections  and  campaigns.  By  1856,  when  the  Kansas  troubles 
came  on,  it  had  become  a  large  and  powerful  body  of  men,  with  no 
definite  organization,  who  looked  upon  Mr.  Bird  as  their  friend, 
and  brought  other  friends  to  sit  at  his  weekly  club-table.  At  one 
time  perhaps  loo  men  were  members  of  this  Round  Table,  which 
met  weekly  at  Young's  or  Parker's,  to  dine  together,  With  the 
election  of  Governor  Andrew  in  1860,  they  took  charge  of  the  State 
Government  of  Massachusetts,  and  controlled  it  for  a  dozen  years, 
or  until  1873. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    KANSAS   CONTEST    AND   JOHN    BROWN. 

THE  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  the 
Nebraska  Act  of  1854,  opened  the  Territory  of  Kan 
sas,  then  twice  as  large  as  all  New  England,  to  the 
curse  of  slavery.  In  order  to  prevent  its  establish 
ment  there,  the  anti-slavery  men  of  New  England 
formed  a  colonization  company,  which  in  1854-55 
did  something  to  provide  Kansas  with  anti-slavery 
inhabitants.  Dr.  Howe  entered  warmly  into  this 
plan,  as  did  many  of  his  friends,  but  took  no  leading 
part  in  the  Kansas  contest  until  the  spring  of  1856, 
when  he  raised  what  was  called  the  Faneuil  Hall 
Committee,  to  supply  the  wants  and  sustain  the 
courage  of  the  Free-State  men  in  Kansas.  Dr. 
Howe  said  afterwards : 

I  was  connected  with  two  Kansas  committees.  One  was 
raised  for  the  purpose  of  getting  clothing  and  money  for  aiding 
the  suffering  inhabitants  of  Kansas;  that  was  the  express 
object  of  the  committee  of  which  I  was  chairman.  Another 
committee  of  which  I  was  a  member,  was  raised  for  the  gen 
eral  purpose  of  aiding  the  inhabitants  of  Kansas  in  the  defence 
of  their  freedom  then  invaded,  and  repelling  invaders.  The 
first  was  the  Boston  committee,  usually  called  the  Faneuil  Hall 
Committee,  inasmuch  as  the  original  meeting  was  at  Faneuil 
Hall ;  it  had  no  official  name  ;  it  was  not  an  incorporated  body  ; 

(253) 


254  DR-    S.    G.    HOWE. 

it  was  called  just  what  people  chose  to  call  it.     The  other  was 
the  Massachusetts  Kansas  Committee. 

In  fact  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  National  Kan 
sas  Committee,  formed  at  Buffalo  in  1856,  with  a 
member  from  each  of  the  Northern  States,  and  some 
times  two  ;  and  he  had  some  share  in  raising  the 
first  large  sum  of  money  to  buy  arms  for  Kansas  that 
was  contributed  in  Boston  in  1855 — some  thousands 
of  dollars,  which  were  expended  in  the  purchase  of 
Sharp's  rifles.  The  Faneuil  Hall  Committee,  organ 
ized  in  May,  1856,  pledged  itself  to  raise  money  for 
use  "in  a  strictly  lawful  manner"  in  Kansas;  but 
most  of  the  other  committees  were  not  so  scrupulous, 
and  gave  their  money  freely  to  arm  the  colonists 
who  went  out  to  defend  the  Free-State  cause.  The 
National  Kansas  Committee,  which  had  its  head 
quarters  at  Chicago,  received  and  forwarded  many 
of  these  arms,  and  in  other  ways  aided  the  anti- 
slavery  colonists  ;  but  Dr.  Howe's  connection  with  it 
was  little  more  than  a  nominal  one.  Of  the  Massa 
chusetts  State  Committee,  however,  he  was  a  very 
active  member  in  1856-57, L  and  this  took  him  to 
Kansas,  and  brought  him  into  close  relations  with 
John  Brown,  the  hero  of  Kansas  and  Virginia.  Dr. 


1  Between  May,  1856,  and  January,  1857,  I  passed  through  all 
the  grades  of  these  Kansas  committees — beginning  in  June,  1856, 
as  Secretary  of  the  Concord  Town  Committee  ;  then  in  July  help 
ing  to  organize  a  county  committee  for  Middlesex,  of  which  I  was 
Secretary  ;  then  serving  as  Secretary  to  the  Massachusetts  State 
Kansas  Committee,  from  December,  1856,  until  the  committee  dis 
solved  in  1858—59  ;  and,  finally,  serving  upon  the  National  Com 
mittee  at  its  last  meeting,  in  January,  1857,  as  proxy  for  Dr. 
Howe.  F.  B.  S. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  255 

Howe  made  his  acquaintance,  as  many  of  us  did,  in 
January,  1857  ;  and,  when  the  little  civil  war  in  Kan 
sas  was  virtually  ended,  in  1858,  Dr.  Howe  joined, 
with  a  few  others,  in  contributing  money  and  arms 
for  Brown's  attack  on  slavery,  first  in  Missouri  in 
1858-59,  and  then  in  Virginia  in  October,  1859.  In 
the  winter  of  1858  59,  he  thus  briefly  described 
Brown,  in  a  note  to  John  M.  Forbes,  of  Boston  : 

If  you  would  like  to  hear  an  honest,  keen,  and  veteran  back 
woodsman  disclose  some  plans  for  delivering  our  land  from  the 
curse  of  slavery,  the  bearer  will  do  so.  I  think  I  know  him 
well.  He  is  of  the  Puritan  militant  order.1  He  is  an  enthu 
siast,  yet  cool,  keen,  and  cautious.  He  has  a  martyr's  spirit. 
He  will  ask  nothing  of  you  but  the  pledge  that  you  keep  to 
yourself  what  he  may  say. 

Brown  and  Dr.  Howe  were  nearly  of  the  same 
age — Brown  a  year  and  a  half  older;  they  were  much 
of  the  same  build  and  figure,  though  very  unlike  in 
temperament  and  training.  Brown  was  the  last  of 


1  Mrs.  Howe  in  her  memoir  published  in  1876,  relates  this  strik 
ing  anecdote:  "  I  remember  a  conversation  in  which,  in  the  strict 
est  confidence,  Dr.  Howe  told  me  of  a  wonderful  man,  an  apostle, 
a  Puritan  of  the  old  type,  who  had  devoted  himself  to  an  elaborate 
plan  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Southern  blacks,  with  the  zeal 
and  courage  which  ever  characterize  the  saviors  of  mankind.  The 
name  of  this  person  was  confided  to  me  at  a  much  later  date,  but  so 
vivid  had  the  Doctor's  portraiture  of  him  been,  that  when,  a  year 
or  two  after  this  time,  he  came  to  my  door,  I  said  to  him,  "  You 
are  Captain  John  Brown?"  to  which  he  replied,  "I  am."  Dr. 
Howe  did  not  agree  with  the  general  opinion,  then  prevalent,  which 
characterized  John  Brown's  scheme  of  negro  emancipation  as  in 
capable  of  execution.  He  insisted  in  after  years  that  the  plan  had 
been  a  very  able  one,  and  that  it's  failure  could  not  have  been  a 
foregone  conclusion." 


256  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  Puritans;  Howe  was  one  of  the  Cavaliers,  but  with 
an  enthusiasm  for  liberty  as  warm  as  Sidney's  or 
Colonel  Hutchinson's.  Their  likeness  and  their 
unlikeness  drew  them  together,  and  there  was  none 
among  his  few  New  England  intimates  to  whom 
Brown  disclosed  his  secret  plans  more  willingly  than 
to  Howe.  Yet  that  latent  conservatism  in  Howe's 
nature,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  sometimes  came 
forth  and  drew  him  back  from  the  extreme  measures 
undertaken  by  this  foreordained  champion  and 
martyr.  Particularly  was  this  so  after  a  visit  which 
Dr.  Howe  made  to  South  Carolina  in  the  spring  of 
1859,  on  his'  return  from  Cuba,  whither  he  had 
accompanied  Theodore  Parker.  The  letter  above 
cited  was  given  me  by  Dr.  Howe,  Feb.  5,  1859,  just 
before  he  sailed  for  Cuba  ;  but  when  he  visited  the 
courteous  planters  of  Carolina  a  few  months  later, 
and  saw  how  peacefully  they  wrere  living  among 
their  slaves,  he  shrank  from  a  conspiracy,  like  that  of 
Brown,  which  might  possibly  bring  every  horror  upon 
his  Carolina  friends.  Consequently  he  had  little  to 
do  with  the  final  arrangements  for  Brown's  Virginia 
campaign,  though  he  did  raise  some  money  for  it  in 
the  summer  of  1859,  and  welcomed  the  eldest  son  of 
Brown,  when  he  visited  Boston  that  summer,  in 
furtherance  of  his  father's  plans.1 

1  In  the  examination  of  Dr.  Howe  by  Jefferson  Davis  and  other 
Senators  at  Washington  (February  3,  1860),  a  letter  from  John 
Brown,  Jr.,  was  produced,  dated  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  August  17, 
1859,  addressed  to  John  Henry  Kagi,  Brown's  secretary,  at  Cham- 
bersburg,  Pa.,  in  which  this  son  of  John  Brown,  speaking  of  his 
father  as  friend  Isaac,  said: 

"  While  in  Boston,  I  improved  the  time  in  making  the  acquaint 
ance  of  those  staunch  friends  of  our  friend  Isaac.  First,  called 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  257 

Dr.  Howe's  first  knowledge  of  John  Brown's  Vir 
ginia  plan  was  communicated  to  him  by  me  in  Feb 
ruary,  1858,  upon  my  return  from  a  visit  to  Gerrit 
Smith,  at  Peterboro,  N.  Y.,  where  Brown  had  laid  the 
whole  scheme  before  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith,  Edwin 
Morton,  and  myself,  with  the  request  that  we  should 
make  it  known  to  Dr.  Howe,  Theodore  Parker,  and 


on  Dr.  H. , who,  though  I  had  no  letter  of  introduction,  received 

me  most  cordially.  He  gave  me  a  letter  to  the  friend  who  does 
business  on  Milk  street.  Went  with  him  to  his  house  in  Medford 
and  took  dinner.  The  last  word  he  said  to  me  was,  '  Tell  friend 
(Isaac)  that  we  have  the.  fttlltst  confidence  in  his  endeavor,  whatever 
may  be  the  result.'  " 

The  examination  then  proceeded  : 

Davis — Was  it  in  that  month  of  August,  1859,  you  saw  John 
Brown,  Jr.,  in  Boston  ? 

Howe — It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  recollect  any  further 
than  that  it  was  not  in  cold  weather. 

D — Did  he  introduce  himself  ? 

H — He  introduced  himself. 

D — Did  you  receive  him  as  the  son  of  old  John  Brown  ? 

H — I  did,  and  was  very  glad  to  see  him  as  the  son  of  John 
Brown. 

D — Did  he  tell  you  the  object  of  his  visit  to  Boston  ? 

H — He  did  not, 

D — Did  he  tell  you  that  he  was  there  endeavoring  to  collect 
money  ? 

H — He  did  not. 

D — Did  he  apply  to  you  for  money  ? 

H — He  did  not. 

D — Do  you  remember  having  given  him  a  letter  to  a  gentleman 
who  does  business  on  Milk  street  ? 

H — Very  likely  I  may  have  done  so. 

D — Do  you  know  to  whom  he  refers  ? 

H — Mr.  George  L.  Stearns. 

Dr.  Howe  said  to  me  after  his  return  from  this  examination,  that 
he  could  have  asked  questions  more  difficult  to  answer. 


258  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

T.  Wentworth  Higginson,  as  he  had  just  made  it 
known  to  Frederick  Douglass,  at  whose  house  in 
Rochester  he  had  drawn  up  the  "  Provisional  Consti 
tution,"  which  he  read  to  us  at  Mr.  Smith's  house. 
Brown  soon  after  visited  Boston,  and  talked  over  his 
plans  more  fully  with  Parker,  Howe,  Higginson,  and 
George  L.  Stearns.  The  last-named  gentleman  and 
Gerrit  Smith  were  the  largest  contributors  to  Brown's 
campaign  fund,  for  which,  first  and  last,  Stearns  gave 
in  money  and  arms  at  least  $8,000,  and  Smith,  per 
haps,  $1,000.  In  February,  1858,  Brown  had  in  pos 
session  arms  valued  at  $6,000,  and  all  he  needed  in 
money,  he  said,  was  $1,000.  With  this  small  sum  in 
hand  he  was  ready  to  take  the  field  and  commence 
emancipation  by  force  in  the  spring  of  1858.  Mr. 
Stearns  acted  as  treasurer  of  this  fund,  and  before 
the  ist  of  May  nearly  the  whole  amount  had  been 
paid  in  or  subscribed — Stearns  contributing  $300,  and 
the  rest  of  our  committee  (six  in  all)  smaller  sums. 
It  soon  appeared  that  the  amount  named  would  be 
too  small,  and  Brown's  movements  were  embarrassed 
from  lack  of  money  before  the  disclosures  of  his  false 
friend,  Hugh  Forbes,  made  it  expedient  to  postpone 
the  expedition  to  a  more  favorable  time.  Forbes  was 
an  Englishman  of  some  military  knowledge,  acquired 
under  Garibaldi  in  1848-49,  who  had  undertaken  for 
hire  to  train  Brown's  men  in  tactics,  and  had  done  so 
in  Iowa,  for  a  short  time.  The  money  which  he  was 
to  receive  was  not  forthcoming  after  awhile,  and 
Forbes  began  to  write  letters  to  Charles  Sumner,  Dr. 
Howe,  and  myself — none  of  whom  had  then  seen  him 
— demanding  that  we  should  pay  him,  and  also  depose 
Brown  from  the  command  of  the  expedition.  These 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  259 

letters  began  to  come  before  any  of  us  knew  Brown's 
plans,  and  were  continued  while  Brown  in  the  spring 
of  1858,  was  on  his  way  (about  May  ist),  with  a  dozen 
or  twenty  "shepherds,"  for  the  "  market "  at  Chat 
ham  in  Canada,  where  he  wished  his  Massachusetts 
friends  to  meet  him.  But  just  then  came  a  letter  to 
me  from  Forbes,  followed  by  one  to  Dr.  Howe, 
threatening  to  make  the  matter  public.  On  the  2d  of 
May,  Dr.  Howe,  Mr.  Stearns  and  myself  met  for  the 
consultation  on  the  new  aspect  of  affairs  presented  by 
these  letters  from  Washington,  where  Forbes  then 
was.  Theodore  Parker  was  also  consulted  on  the 
same  day,  and  I  wrote  the  result  (May  5th)  to  Higgin- 
son  as  follows: — 

"  It  looks  as  if  the  project  must,  for  the  present,  be  deferred, 
for  I  find  by  reading  Forbes's  epistles  to  the  doctor  (Howe)  that 
he  knows  the  details  of  the  plan,  and  even  knows  (what  very 
few  do),  that  the  doctor,  Mr.  Stearns,  and  myself  are  informed 
of  it.  How  he  got  this  knowledge  is  a  mystery.  He  demands 
that  Hawkins1  be  dismissed  as  agent,  and  himself  or  some 
other  be  put  in  his  place,  threatening  otherwise  to  make  the 
business  public.  Theodore  Parker  and  G.  L.  Stearns  think  the 
plan  must  be  deferred  till  another  year;  the  doctor  does  not 
think  so,  and  I  am  in  doubt,  inclining  to  the  opinion  of  the  two 
former." 

On  the  7th  of  May  Gerrit  Smith  wrote  :  "  It  seems 
to  me  that  in  these  circumstances  Brown  must  go  no 
further,  and  so  I  write  him.  I  never  was  convinced 
of  the  wisdom  of  this  scheme.  But  as  things  now 
stand,  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  madness  to  attempt 


JA  name \"  Nelson  Hawkins  ")  assumed  by  Brown,  who  also 
called  himself,  at  different  times,  "  Shubael  Morgan,"  "  Isaac 
Smith,"  and,  perhaps,  by  other  names. 


260  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

to  execute  it.  Colonel  Forbes  would  make  such  an 
attempt  a  certain  and  most  disastrous  failure.  I 
write  Brown  this  evening.'"  On  the  9th  of  May,  1858, 
Higginson  wrrote  to  Parker  a  brief  note  from  Brattle- 
boro,  protesting  against  delay.  "  I  regard  any  post 
ponement,"  he  said,  "  as  simply  abandoning  the  pro 
ject  ;  for  if  we  give  it  up  now,  at  the  command  or 
threat  of  H.  F.,  it  will  be  the  same  next  year.  The 
only  way  is  to  circumvent  the  man  somehow  (if  he 
cannot  be  restrained  in  his  malice).  When  the  thing 
is  well  started,  who  cares  what  he  says  ?  "  He  soon 
after  wrote  more  fully  to  Parker,  giving  many  argu 
ments  against  delay.  Parker  replied:  "If  you  knew 
all  we  do  about  'Colonel'  Forbes,  you  would  think 
differently.  Can't  you  see  the  wretch  in  New  York?" 
At  the  same  time  Dr.  Howe  wrote  to  Higginson  : 
"  T.  P.  will  tell  you  about  matters.  They  have  held 
a  different  view  from  the  one  I  have  taken,  which 
agrees  mainly  with  yours.  I  think  that  the  would-be 
traitor  is  now  on  the  wrong  track.  I  told  him  some 
truth,  which  he  will  think  to  be  false  (for  he  thinks 
evil),  and  he  will  probably  be  bungling  about  in  the 
dark  and  hesitating  until  the  period  for  his  doing 
harm,  has  passed.  Forbes  has  disclosed  what  he  knows 
to  Senator  Seward,  or  says  he  has."  A  few  days  after 
this,  Dr.  Howe  also  admitted  that  the  enterprise  must 
be  postponed.  I  was  in  almost  daily  consultation 
with  him,  and  on  the  i8th  of  May  I  wrote  to  Higgin 
son  :  "Wilson  as  well  as  Hale  and  Seward,1  and  God 
knows  how  many  more,  have  heard  about  the  plot 


1  Henry  Wilson,  Senator  from  Massachusettes,  John  P.  Hale, 
Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  and  W.  H.  Seward,  Senator  from 
New  York,  were  the  persons  here  named. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  261 

from  Forbes.  To  go  in  the  face  of  this  is  mere  mad 
ness,  and  I  place  myself  fully  on  the  side  of  Parker, 
Stearns,  and  Dr.  Howe.  Mr.  Stearns  and  the  doctor 
will  see  Hawkins  in  New  York  this  week,  and  settle 
matters  finally."  On  or  before  May  2oth,  Mr.  Stearns 
met  Brown  in  New  York  by  appointment,  and  wrote 
to  Higginson  from  there  that  "  we  are  all  agreed  " 
about  the  recall  of  these  arms  from  Virginia  "  for 
reasons  that  cannot  be  written/'  Previously  Dr. 
Howe  had  thus  replied  to  Senator  Wilson's  letter  of 
Ma}7  9th,  in  which  he  insisted  that  Brown's  reported 
plans  should  be  given  up. 

BOSTON,  May  12,  1858. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  9th.  I 
understand  perfectly  your  meaning".  No  countenance  has  been 
given  to  Brown  for  any  operations  outside  of  Kansas  by  the 
Kansas  Committee.  I  had  occasion,  a  few  days  ago,  to  send 
him  an  earnest  message  from  some  of  his  friends  here,  urging 
him  to  go  at  once  to  Kansas,  and  take  part  in  the  coming 
election,  and  throw  the  weight  of  his  influence  on  the  side  of 
the  right.  There  is  in  Washington  a  disappointed  and 
malicious  man,  working  with  all  the  activity  which  hate  and 
revenge  can  inspire,  to  harm  Brown,  and  to  cast  odium  upon 
the  friends  of  Kansas  in  Massachusetts.  You  probably  know 
him.  He  has  been  to  Mr.  Seward.  Mr.  Hale,  also,  can  tell 
you  something  about  him.  God  speed  the  right ! 

About  the  same  time,  Dr.  Howe  sent  a  final  letter 
to  Hugh  Forbes,  in  which,  among  other  things,  he 

said  : 

"  I  infer  from  your  language  that  you  have  obtained 
(in  confidence)  some  information  respecting  an  expe 
dition  which  you  think  to  be  commendable,  provided 
you  could  manage  it,  but  which  you  will  betray  and 


262  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

denounce  if  Brown  does  not  give  it  up  !  You  are,  sir, 
the  guardian  of  your  own  honor  ;  but  I  trust  that  for 
your  children's  sake,  at  least,  you  will  never  let  your 
passion  lead  you  to  a  course  that  might  make  them 
blush.  In  order,  however,  to  disabuse  you  of  any 
lingering  notion  that  I,  or  any  of  the  members  of  the 
late  Kansas  Committee  (whom  I  know  intimately) 
have  any  responsibility  for  Captain  Brown's  actions, 
I  wish  to  say  that  the  very  last  communication  I  sent 
to  him  was  in  order  to  signify  the  earnest  wish  of 
certain  gentlemen,  whom  you  name  as  his  supporters, 
that  he  should  go  at  once  to  Kansas  and  give  his  aid 
in  the  coming  elections.  Whether  he  will  do  so  or 
not,  we  do  not  know."  x 

At  the  time  Mr.  Stearns  met  Brown  in  New  York 
City,  May  20,  1858,  it  was  arranged  between  them 
that,  from  that  time  forward,  the  custody  of  certain 
rifles  which  had  become  Stearns's  property,  should 
be  in  Brown's  hands  as  the  agent,  not  of  the  Kansas 
Committee,  but  of  Stearns  alone.  It  so  happened 
that  Gerrit  Smith,  who  seldom  visited  Boston,  was 
going  there  late  in  May,  to  deliver  an  address  before 
the  Peace  Society.  He  arrived  and  took  rooms  at 
the  Revere  House,  where  (May  24,  1858)  the  secret 
committee,  organized  in  March,  and  consisting  of 
Smith,  Parker,  Howre,  Higginson,  Stearns,  and  San- 
born,  held  a  meeting  to  consider  the  situation.  It 
had  already  been  decided  to  postpone  the  attack, 
and  the  arms  had  been  placed  under  a  temporary 
interdict,  so  that  they  could  only  be  used,  for  the 


1  See   "Life  and   Letters  of  John   Brown,"  p.  459.     (Boston, 
Roberts  Brothers,  1885.) 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  263 

present,  in  Kansas.  The  questions  remaining  were 
whether  Brown  should  be  required  to  go  to  Kansas 
at  once,  and  what  amount  of  money  should  be  raised 
for  him  in  future.  Of  the  six  members  of  the  com 
mittee  only  one  (Higginson)  was  absent,  and  as  this 
was  the  only  occasion  when  Smith  acted  personally 
with  all  his  associates,  who  met  in  his  chamber  at  the 
Revere  House,  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  meet 
ing.  It  was  unanimously  resolved  that  Brown  ought 
to  go  to  Kansas  at  once.  As  soon  as  possible  after 
this,  Brown  visited  Boston  (May  3ist),  and  while  there 
held  a  conversation  with  Higginson,  who  made  a 
record  of  it  at  the  time — saying  that  Brown  was  full 
of  regret  at  the  decision  of  his  friends  to  postpone 
the  attack  till  the  winter  or  spring  of  1859,  when  the 
secret  committee  would  raise  for  him  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars  ;  "  he  meantime  to  blind  Forbes  by 
going  to  Kansas,  and  to  transfer  the  property  so  as 
to  relieve  the  Kansas  Committee  of  responsibility, 
and  they  in  future  to  know  his  plans."  "  On  probing 
Brown,"  Higginson  goes  on,  "  I  found  that  he  ... 
considered  delay  very  discouraging  to  his  thirteen 
men,  and  to  those  in  Canada.  Impossible  to  begin 
in  the  autumn  ;  and  he  would  not  lose  a  clay  [he 
finally  said]  if  he  had  three  hundred  dollars  ;  it 
would  not  cost  twenty-five  dollars  apiece  to  get  his' 
men  from  Ohio,  and  that  was  all  he  needed.  The 
knowledge  that  Forbes  could  give  of  his  plan  would 
be  injurious,  for  he  wished  his  opponents  to  under 
rate  him  ;  but  still  .  .  .  the  increased  terror  pro 
duced  would  perhaps  counterbalance  this,  and  it 
would  not  make  much  difference.  If  he  had  the 
means  he  would  not  lose  a  day."  He  complained 


264  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE 

that  some  of  his  Eastern  friends  were  not  men  of 
action  ;  that  they  were  intimidated  by  Senator  Wil 
son's  letter,  and  magnified  the  obstacles.  Still  it  was 
essential  that  they  should  not  think  him  reckless ; 
"  as  they  held  the  purse,  he  was  powerless  without 
them,  having  spent  nearly  everything  received  this 
campaign,  on  account  of  delay — a  month  at  Chat 
ham,  etc."  Higginson  notes  down  a  few  days  later 
that  Dr.  Howe  told  him  Brown  left  Boston,  June  3, 
with  five  hundred  dollars  in  gold,  and  liberty  to 
retain  all  the  arms,  and  that  "  he  went  off  in  good 
spirits." 

Brown  spent  the  following  season  in  Kansas  where 
he  did  much  anti-slavery  work  ;  and  in  the  winter  of 
1858-59,  while  Dr.  Howe  was  going  to  Cuba  and 
returning,  he  brought  out  a  party  of  twelve  freemen, 
whom  he  had  forcibly  emancipated  in  Missouri,  and 
conveyed  them  safely  to  Canada,  near  Detroit.  He 
then  came  to  New  England  for  the  last  time,  saw  all 
the  members  of  his  secret  committee  except  Theo 
dore  Parker,  who  was  then  in  England,  and  about 
June  2,  1859,  left  Boston  for  Virginia,  by  way  of 
Ohio,  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  and  the  Kennedy  farm 
in  Maryland.  He  set  out  from  Chambersburg  for 
Harper's  Ferry  June  3oth,  and  was  on  the  ground  early 
in  July.  Dr.  Howe  had  aided  him  to  raise  the 
$2,000  which  found  needful  for  his  expedition,  but 
he  had  not  been  active  in  the  matter,  tie  again  con 
tributed  in  August  ;  for  Brown's  secretary,  Kagi,  in 
a  note  to  John  Brown,  written  August  27th,  says  :  "  I 
to-day  received  the  inclosed  letter  and  check  [fifty 
dollars]."  This  was  the  money  sent  on  by  Dr.  Howe 
about  August  25th,  and  the  letter  was  this  ; 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  265 

DEAR  FRIEND  :  I  begin  the  investment  with  fifty  dollars, 
and  will  try  to  do  more  through  friends.  Our  friend  from  Con 
cord  called  with  your  note.  DOCTOR. 

I  was  the  "  friend  from  Concord,"  and  on  the  3oth 
of  August  I  wrote  to  Brown  from  Springfield  : 

"  S.  G.  Howe  has  sent  you  fifty  dollars  in  a  draft 
on  New  York,  and  I  am  expecting  to  get  more  from 
other  sources  (perhaps  some  here),  and  will  make  up 
to  you  the  three  hundred  dollars,  if  I  can,  as  soon  as 
I  can."  It  was  made  up  a  few  weeks  later,  Gerrit 
Smith  contributing  $100.  This  amount,  with  $600 
contributed  in  October  by  Francis  Jackson  Merriam, 
of  Boston,  was  the  last  gift  by  his  friends  to  John 
Brown,  before  he  made  his  foray  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
October  1 6,  1859.  Seldom  have  men  engaged  in  so 
formidable  an  undertaking  with  such  slender  pecu 
niary  resources. 

When  the  blow  had  been  struck  and  the  desperate 
enterprise  had  failed,  there  was  the  greatest  excite 
ment  throughout  the  country.  Men  knew  not  what 
to  think  of  these  strange  events,  and  the  wildest 
words  were  uttered  by  the  calmest  men. 

Dr.  Howe  shrank  at  first  from  acknowledging  his 
connection  with  Brown,  and  distressed  some  of  his 
friends  thereby  ;  for  he  was  overcome  by  the  con 
templation  of  results  which  he  might  have  foreseen, 
but  did  not.  He  was  charged,  in  company  with 
many  of  his  friends  and  others  whom  he  never  saw, 
or  scarcely  knew,  with  all  manner  of  dark  and  bloody 
plots,  most  of  which  he  could  truthfully  disclaim  as 
beyond  his  knowledge.  The  New  York  IferaM  obtained 
some  of  Forbes's  correspondence,  which  it  published, 
along  with  the  letters  found  in  Brown's  possession 


266  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

when  captured.  To  show  what  the  public  were  then 
asked  to  believe,  let  me  quote  an  article  from  the 
New  York  Herald  late  in  October,  1859  : 

THE    EXPOSURE  OF   THE    NIGGER  WORSHIPING    INSURREC 
TIONISTS. 

If  the  crafty  schemers  who  encouraged  old  Osawatomie 
Brown  to  carry  out  his  insane  project  of  seizing  on  the  Harper's 
Ferry  armory,  distributing  arms  to  the  slaves,  inciting  them  to 
insurrection  and  revolutionizing  the  Government,  had  hugged 
themselves  into  the  delusion  that  they  had  covered  up  their 
tracks  and  were  safe  from  the  chances  of  exposure,  the  corres 
pondence  which  we  have  published  within  the  last  few  days 
must  have  dispelled  that  illusion.  They  are,  one  and  all  of 
them,  known  now  to  the  Government  and  to  the  country  as 
sneaking  conspirators,  who,  with  a  guilty  knowledge  of  the 
plans  of  the  crazy  old  fanatic  whose  earthly  career  is  fast 
drawing  to  a  close,  managed  to  keep  themselves  perhaps  clear 
of  direct  responsibility  to  the  law,  but  at  the  same  time  gave  to 
Brown  countenance,  encouragement,  and  support.  The  law 
wisely  and  justly  brands  with  equal  guilt  the  accessory  before 
the  act  and  the  actors  in  the  crime.  And  in  the  first  category 
we  find  the  names  of  Senator  Seward,  of  New  York  ;  Senators 
Wilson  and  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts ;  Senator  Hale  and  ex- 
Governor  Fletcher,  of  New  Hampshire;  Governor  Chase,  of 
Ohio  ;  Hon.  Gerrit  Smith,  ex-member  of  Congress ;  Rev.  Joshua 
Leavitt,  of  New  York ;  Horace  Greeley,  of  the  Tribune  ;  Mr. 
Lawrence,  a  prominent  merchant,  and  Dr.  Howe,  a  physician 
of  high  standing  in  Boston  ;  Dr.  Bailey,  late  of  the  Washington 
Era;  Dr.  Jesse  Bowen,  of  Iowa  City,  and  F.  B.  Sanborn,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard,  and  now  a  leading  teacher  in  Massachu 
setts.  This  is  no  list  of  low  born,  ignorant,  and  despised 
traitors  to  the  Union  and  its  States.  It  is  no  concoction  of 
local  disaffection.  It  shows  that  the  treason  had  infested  all 
classes,  from  the  desperate  adventurer  to  the  occupant  of  the 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  267 

Senatorial  hall.  The  whole  plot  was  fully  known  for  the  last 
year  and  a  half  to  Seward,  Sumner,  Hale,  Chase,  Fletcher,  Gid- 
dings,  Sanborn,  Howe,  and  the  leading  Abolitionists  and  black 
Republicans  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  It  is  impossible  to 
resist  the  conviction  that  they  all  knew  and  approved  of  it. 
That  they  knew  is  clearly  proven  by  the  correspondence  of 
Brown  himself,  and  of  Forbes,  the  British  Abolitionist  whom 
they  employed  to  train  Brown's  men  in  guerilla  tactics.  That 
they  approved  is  not  only  shown  affirmatively  by  the  fact  of  their 
supplying  Brown  with  money  and  arms,  but  is  as  clearly 
shown,  indirectly,  by  the  fact  of  their  not  denouncing  him. 
Here  were  Senators  of  the  United  States,  members  of  Congress, 
Governors  of  States,  merchants,  and  prominent  men  in  New 
York,  New  England,  and  the  West,  who  kept  in  their  own 
guilty  breasts  a  secret  which  might  have  involved,  and  which 
actually  seemed  to  involve,  the  very  existence  of  the  Govern 
ment  ;  whereas,  a  word  from  them  would  have  stopped  the 
conspiracy  in  its  very  inception. 

This  was  the  tone  of  the  champions  of  slavery.  On 
the  other  side  was  the  argument  from  morality  itself, 
pungently  stated  thus  by  Elizur  Wright,  of  Boston  : 

Look  here,  my  Honorable  Proxy  for  compiling  Statute  Books, 
if  a  man  with  wit  and  limbs,  but  too  lazy  or  too  mean  to  work 
out  his  own  honest  living,  appropriates  to  himself  the  fruits  of 
another  man's  toil,  he  is  a  criminal,  isn't  he,  whether  you  have 
described  his  crime  in  your  statute  book  or  not  ?  Very  well. 
You  describe  it  and  send  a  sheriff.  He  is  too  much  for  the 
sheriff  and  knocks  him  down.  Is  he  less  a  criminal  for  that  ? 
You  send  a  judge.  He  bribes  that  dignitary.  You  send  a  par 
son.  He  gags  him  with  bread  and  cheese.  You  send  lawyers, 
and,  for  a  pinch  of  snuff,  they  swear  his  blacknes  sis  all  white. 
He  laughs  the  very  idea  of  punishment  to  scorn.  Has  he  be 
come  less  a  criminal  by  all  that  ?  By  and  by  he  allures  some 
body  into  a  partnership  of  his  iniquity.  Nobody  interferes  to 
enforce  the  law  and  the  letter  thereof  dies  and  is  buried. 


268  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Multiplied  criminals  walk  abroad,  and,  finding  it  too  tedious 
to  appropriate  products,  appropriate  the  producers.  Those 
that  resist  they  kill,  adding  murder  to  robbery,  ad  libitum  ; 
and  for  the  convenience  of  doing  so  write  statutes  to  that 
effect.  Nobody  rebels.  Is  the  crime  growing  less,  O  sapient 
legislator  ? 

Law,  so  called,  is  exactly  bottom  side  up  as  to  this  now  im 
mense  partnership  of  criminals.  Is  the  moral  nature  of  their 
conduct  changed  by  that  fact  ?  They  have  died  and  left  their 
crime  to  their  children  and  their  children's  children,  garnished 
with  piety  and  polite  literature.  Has  it,  therefore,  become 
righteous  per  se . ?  Out  of  millions  who  do  not  think  it  right 
eous,  there  is  not  one  who  will  risk  his  life  to  rescue  one  of  its 
victims.  Does  it  follow  that  it  is  criminal  to  rescue  one  of  its 
victims  ?  I  say  it  is  the  holiest  thing  a  man  can  do — and  as 
sure  as  there  is  a  hereafter,  it  is  the  sanest,  provided  he  has 
any  talent  for  it.  I  think  Brown  and  his  followers  had  remark 
able  talent  for  it.  They,  at  the  cost  of  entering  heaven  some 
years  earlier,  placed  themselves  on  the  side  of  law,  order,  and 
honesty.  I  think  they  deserve  to  be  imitated  by  all  the  moral 
and  physical  force  in  the  world,  till  man-stealers  are  not  con 
sidered  more  sacred  than  pickpockets. 

In  this  sharp  conflict  against  crime  installed  as 
law,  with  armies  and  dignitaries  of  all  sorts  to  uphold 
it,  the  friends  of  John  Brown  were  called  upon  to 
exercise  prudence  ;  and  they  did  so.  Without  dis 
claiming  their  opinion  of  Brown,  and  their  wish  that  he 
had  succeeded,  they  had  first  to  prevent  the  political 
harm  that  timid  statesmen,  like  Henry  Wilson,  feared 
might  result  from  their  conspiracy.  Most  of  them 
were  active,  voting  Republicans,  though  none  were 
leaders  in  that  party  ;  for  the  charges  of  the  Herald 
were  mere  blank  cartridges  shot  off  to  alarm  the  sup 
porters  of  Sevvard,  Sumner,  and  the  other  leaders. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  269 

Such   was  the   state  of  things  when   Dr.    Howe    pub 
lished  this  letter  : 

BOSTON,  November  14,  1859. 

Rumor  has  mingled  my  name  with  the  events  at  Harper's 
Ferry.  So  long  as  it  rested  on  such  absurdities  as  letters  writ 
ten  to  me  by  Colonel  Forbes  or  others,  it  was  too  idle  for 
notice.  But  when  complicity  is  distinctly  charged  by  one  of 
the  parties  engaged,  my  friends  beseech  me  to  define  my  posi 
tion  ;  and  I  consent,  the  less  reluctantly,  because  I  divest  myself 
of  what,  in  time,  might  be  considered  an  honor,  and  I  want  no 
undeserved  ones. 

The  outbreak  at  Harper's  Ferry  was  unforeseen  and  unex 
pected  by  me  ;  nor  does  all  my  previous  knowledge  of  John 
Brown  enable  me  to  reconcile  it  with  his  characteristic  pru 
dence,  and  his  reluctance  to  shed  blood,  or  excite  servile  insur 
rection.  It  is  still  to  me  a  mystery  and  a  marvel.  As  to  the 
heroic  man  who  planned  and  led  that  forlorn  hope,  my  relations 
with  him  in  former  times  were  such  as  no  man  ought  to  be 
afraid  or  ashamed  to  avow.  If  ever  my  testimony  to  his  high 
qualities  can  be  of  use  to  him  or  his,  it  shall  be  forthcoming  at 
the  fitting  time  and  place.  But  neither  this  nor  any  other  testi 
mony  shall  be  extorted  for  unrighteous  purposes,  if  I  can 
help  it. 

There  are,  among  the  statutes  of  our  Union,  certain  weapons, 
concealed  as  are  the  claws  of  a  cat,  in  a  velvet  paw,  which  are 
seemingly  harmless,  but  are  really  deadly  instruments  by  which 
we  of  the  North  may  be  forced  to  uphold  and  defend  the  bar 
barous  system  of  human  slavery.  For  instance,  a  dishonest 
judge,  in  the  remotest  South,  or  in  far  off  California,  may,  upon 
the  affidavit  of  any  white  person,  that  the  testimony  of  any  citi 
zen  of  Massachusetts  is  wanted  in  a  criminal  suit,  send  a  mar 
shal,  who  may  take  such  citizen  before  the  judge,  and  there, 
among  strangers,  force  him  to  recognize  for  his  appearance  in 
court,  or  be  committed  to  jail.  Upon  the  stand,  such  expressions 
of  opinion  may  be  drawn  from  him  as  will  mark  him  for  an 
Abolitionist,  and  turn  him  out  of  the  Court  House  to  the  tender 


270  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

mercies  of  a  people  once  called  chivalrous  and  generous,  but 
among  whom  the  love  of  fair  play  seems  rapidly  dying  out. 

Such  martyrdom  might  be  coveted  by  some,  if  any  high  pur 
pose  were  to  be  gained  by  it ;  but  it  is  especially  undesirable 
when  the  testimony  is  not  sought  with  open  and  righteous,  but 
with  false  and  revengeful  purpose.  I  am  told  by  high  legal 
authority  that  Massachusetts  is  so  trammeled  by  the  bonds  of 
the  Union,  that,  as  matters  now  stand,  she  cannot,  or  dare  not, 
protect  her  citizens  from  such  forcible  extradition;  and  that 
each  one  must  protect  himself,  as  he  best  may.  Upon  that  hint 
I  shall  act ;  preferring  to  forego  anything  rather  than  the  right 
to  free  thought  and  free  speech. 

Yours  faithfully,  S.  G.  HOWE. 

The  "  legal  authority  "  here  cited  was  that  of  John 
A.  Andrew,  a  year  afterwards  elected  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  on  the  distinct  issue  that  he  was  a 
friend  of  John  Brown  and  of  his  main  purpose  to 
destroy  slavery,  though  not  a  promoter  of  his  con 
spiracy.  On  the  1 2th  of  November,  two  days  before 
this  letter  of  Howe's  was  written,  I  consulted  Mr. 
Andrew  (who  had  previously  made  the  same  dis 
closure  to  Dr.  Howe),  and  the  result  of  my  con 
ference  was  thus  communicated  by  me  to  Colonel 
Higginson,  then  living  at  Worcester : 

BOSTON,  November  13,  1859. 

DEAR  FRIEND  :  I  had  a  talk  with  Andrew  last  night,  who 
showed  me  the  statute  about  witnesses.  It  appears  that  by  a 
law  of  August  8,  1846,  a  witness  whose  evidence  is  deemed 
material  by  any  United  States  judge,  may  be  arrested  by  a 
warrant  from  a  judge,  without  any  previous  summons,  and 
taken  before  that  judge  to  give  bond  for  his  appearing  to  testify. 
This  leaves  no  room  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  unless  the 
State  judges  are  willing  to  take  the  ground  that  the  statute  is 
unconstitutional,  or  that  it  means  the  process  shall  run  only 
within  the  judge's  district,  or  circuit;  and  Andrew  does  not 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  271 

believe,  nor  do  I,  that  our  judges  are  ready  to  take  either 
ground.  Therefore,  if  arrested,  a  witness  can  only  be  released 
by  a  tumult.  This  may  do  very  well  in  Worcester,  but  is  rather 
precarious  in  Boston,  and,  therefore,  Phillips  thinks  there  should 
be  some  concert  of  action  between  those  likely  to  be  arrested, 
and  some  decision  come  to  about  what  shall  be  done  in  case  of 
arrest.  Would  your  Worcester  people  go  down  to  Boston  to 
take  Dr.  Howe  or  Wendell  Phillips  out  of  the  marshal's  hands? 

But,  first  of  all,  the  public  attention  must  be  called  through 
the  papers  to  this  singular  law,  which  is  unknown  to  most  law 
yers.  Can  you  set  some  young  (or  old)  lawyer  to  look  it  up, 
and  write  articles  about  it  for  your  city  papers  ?  I  will  try 
to  get  the  Springfield  Republican  to  do  the  same  thing,  and,  if 
possible,  the  Boston  papers  and  the  Tribune ;  and,  through  my 
brother,  the  New  Hampshire  papers.  Thus  preparation  would 
be  made  for  any  action  which  might  be  taken  under  it. 

This  preparation  was  made  through  the  news 
papers;  but,  to  avoid  all  possibility  of  arrest,  Dr. 
Howe  followed  up  his  letter  by  retiring  to  Canada 
for  a  few  weeks.  His  letter  excited  the  most  adverse 
comment,  as  will  appear  from  another  letter  of  mine, 
written  to  a  warm  friend  of  Brown,  who  did  not 
understand  Dr.  Howe's  position,  and  supposed  he 
was  yielding  to  the  storm  that  raged  against  all  anti- 
slavery  men.  I  wrote  (November  17,  1859),  as  fol 
lows  : 

How  differently  people  look  at  things !  Yesterday  my 
brother,  George  Walker,  wrote  me  that  Dr.  Howe's  letter  was 
"  the  height  of  imprudence  "  ;  to-day  you  call  it  "  the  extreme 
of  baseness  ;  "  I  don't  think  it  either,  though  I  am  a  little  sorry- 
it  was  written.  I  do  not  think  the  time  has  yet  come  for  de 
claring  the  whole  truth  about  Brown  ;  better  the  numbers,  tne 
names,  and  the  plans  of  his  accomplices  should  be  unknown, 
for  then  they  can  work  in  the  same  way  hereafter  if  they 
choose.  I  don't  see  why  it  is  any  worse  to  conceal  the  facts 


272  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

now  than  before  the  outbreak  ;  provided  that  Brown  and  his 
men  do  not  suffer  by  such  concealment.  What  has  been  pru 
dence  is  prudence  still,  and  may  be  for  years  to  come.  But  if 
any  person  wishes  to  come  out  and  declare  himself  in  Brown's 
plot,  he  would  have  a  right  to  do  so,  however  we  might  regard 
the  prudence  of  it — no  right  at  all  to  implicate  others.  To  do 
that  now  would  not  only  be  an  abuse  of  confidence,  but,  so  far 
as  a  well-meaning  man  can  be  base,  would  be  the  "  extreme  of 
baseness."  At  the  same  time  no  fear  of  an  exposure  would 
drive  me,  or  any  right-thinking  man  into  a  course  which  he 
disapproved.  My  action  will  be  directed,  not  by  considerations 
about  myself  or  any  other  person  ;  but  by  what  seems  to  me  the 
best  good  of  the  cause.  Dr.  Howe  has  not  acted  in  all  ways  as 
I  should  have  done,  neither  have  you ;  but  so  long  as  each 
person  acts  for  himself  \tz.  must  allow  such  diversities.  If, 
however,  the  Doctor  or  yourself  should  act  so  as  to  compromise 
others,  I  should  have  a  much  stronger  feeling  about  that. 

I  suppose  you  know  that  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Stearns  are  in 
Canada  ;  at  least,  so  I  am  informed.  I  got  to-day  a  letter  from 
Miller,  Gerrit  Smith's  son-in-law,  saying  that  E.  Morton  is  on 
his  way  to  Europe,  and  Mr.  Smith  too  unwell  to  attend  to  any 
business.  Hoyt  writes  that  preparations  are  making  at  Charles- 
town  to  summon  witnesses  from  hereabouts;  and  that  Sennott 
was  asked  by  Hunter  where  Sanborn  lived.1  I  have  no  inten 
tion  of  leaving  Massachusetts  at  present.  We  talk  of  a  meet 
ing  here,  in  Concord,  on  the  day  of  Brown's  execution — do  you 
know  anything  to  prevent  it  ? 

No  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  Howe,  Sanborn,  or 
other  persons  until  the  winter  following.  At  that sea- 


1  The  persons  above  named  were  George  H.  Hoyt,  the  young 
lawyer  who  went  from  Boston  to  defend  John  Brown,  George 
Sennott  (an  adopted  son  of  Colonel  Miller,  Dr.  Howe's  comrade 
in  Greece),  a  Boston  attorney,  who  defended  the  companions  of 
Brown,  and  Andrew  Hunter,  the  prosecuting  attorney  at  Charles- 
town,  in  Virginia. 


POLITICAL   CONFLICT.  273 

son,  Congress  having  met,  and  a  committee  of  the  Sen 
ate,  with  Mason,  of  Virginia,  at  its  head,  and  Jefferson 
Davis  one  of  its  members,  having  been  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  conspiracy  of  Brown,  Dr.  Howe  and 
Mr.  Stearns  came  back  from  Canada,  and  consulted 
with  their  friends  in  Boston,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  letter  to  Colonel  Higginson.  I  had  previ 
ously  written  urging  our  friends  to  return,  although 
Montgomery  Blair,  and  others  in  Washington  and 
Virginia,  friendly  to  our  cause,  advised  staying  out 
of  the  country  : 

CONCORD,  Dec.  20,  1859. 

DEAR  FRIEND  :  Do  you  know  that  John  A.  Andrew  has 
five  letters  written  by  you  which  ought  to  be  in  your  possession, 
as  my  own  are  in  mine  ?  On  Saturday  and  Sunday  I  had  con 
ferences  with  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr,  Stearns,  and  with  Wendell 
Phillips  and  Andrew.  It  was  resolved  by  Howe,  Stearns,  and 
myself  that  we  would  not  go  to  Washington  to  testify,  but 
would  do  so  in  Massachusetts,  fearing  that  the  summons  was 
but  a  Virginia  trap.  Accordingly,  we  have  written  to  our 
Senators  at  Washington  that  they  must  propose  a  commission 
for  taking  evidence  in  Massachusetts,  and  thus  make  this 
issue  :  "  If  you  want  the  bodies  ot  Massachusetts  Abolitionists, 
you  can't  have  them ;  if  you  want  their  evidence,  that  they  will 
give  in  their  own  State."  This  ought  to  be  a  good  issue  for 
our  people,  and  Wilson  ought  to  make  it.  If  you  approve  this 
course,  please  agitate  among  your  people  to  produce  a  senti 
ment  in  its  favor,  as  we  are  doing  here.  It  is  thought  best  not 
to  publish  it  in  the  papers  just  yet,  till  we  hear  from  Washing 
ton.  My  own  plan  is  to  receive  the  summons,  if  it  comes,  and 
petition  the  committee  to  hear  my  evidence  here,  because  I,  an 
avowed  Abolitionist  and  friend  of  Brown,  cannot  be  safe  in  a 
city  so  near  Virginia,  where  the  Senate  does  not  protect  its  own 
members,  but  allows  one  to  be  assaulted  and  another  threatened 
with  hanging. 


274  DR-    s-    G-    HOWE. 

Howe  will  probably  return  to  Canada.  Harriet  Tubman  x 
is  in  Boston,  but  soon  goes  to  Canada. 

Yours  ever,  F.  B.  SANBORN. 

Two  weeks  later  (January  2,  1860),  I  again  wrote 
to  Higginson  from  Concord,  having  in  the  meantime 
visited  New  Hampshire,  where  my  friends  offered  to 
protect  me  from  arrest  if  I  would  stay.  Higginson 
had  not  been  summoned,  but  it  was  supposed  he 
would  be  : 

I  am  still  firm  in  the  faith  not  to  go  to  Washington,  not  see 
ing  any  good  that  will  result  from  it,  but  a  chance  of  evil.  TesN 
ing  the  law  is  a  side  issue ;  there  are  a  thousand  better  ways 
of  spending  a  year  in  warfare  against  slavery  than  by  lying  in  a 
Washington  prison.  If  I  were  you  I  should  decline  to  go. 
Howe  thinks  he  may  go ;  Stearns  not.  Charles  Brace  spent 
Sunday  with  me;  he  is  stanch  for  John  Brown,  and  says  at  the 
West  there  is  great  sympathy  for  him  ;  that  Schurz2  told  him 
the  Republicans  are  stronger  in  Wisconsin  for  his  effort.  Wil 
son  got  some  wholesome  truth  while  he  was  in  Massachusetts, 
but  he  is  acting  in  a  craven  way.  Sumner  is  entirely  different. 

These  letters,  hastily  written  at  the  time,  may 
serve  to  show  the  state  of  feeling  and  the  course  of 
events.  Brown  was  tried  and  executed — and,  less 
than  two  years  after,  the  armies  of  the  nation  were 


1  This  was  a  courageous  fugitive  slave,  and  friend  of  John 
Brown,  who  was  not  supposed  to  be  safe  from  capture,  except  in 
Canada. 

3  Carl  Schurz,  afterwards  Senator  from  Missouri,  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  etc.,  was  then  a  Republican  leader  in  Wisconsin.  Mr. 
Brace  was  the  founder  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society  in  New  York, 
and  was  in  Concord  to  present  the  claims  of  his  great  charity.  He 
died  in  Europe  in  1890.  Charles  Sumner  and  Henry  Wilson  were 
then  the  Senators  from  Massachusetts,  men  of  very  different  fiber, 
though  both  were  sincere  anti- slavery  men. 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  275 

marching  into  Virginia,  singing  the  John  Brown  song  : 

"  He's  gone  to  be  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Lord, 
His  soul  is  marching  on." 

Never  was  a  martyrdom  more  quickly  followed  by 
the  world's  recognition  of  a  martyr.  On  the  day  of 
his  execution  Dr.  Howe  was  in  Canada,  pacing  his 
room  at  Montreal,  weeping  and  fretting  that  lie 
could  do  nothing  more  for  his  old  friend  ;  while  at 
Concord,  Alcott,  Emerson,  Thoreau,  and  the  good 
people  generally,  were  holding  a  funeral  service  for 
the  death  of  a  martyr.  Later  in  the  winter,  as  we 
have  seen,  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Stearns  went  to 
Washington  and  testified  before  the  Senate  com 
mittee.  The  evidence  given  was  not  very  serviceable 
to  the  slaveholders,  who  had  hoped  to  implicate  the 
leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  plot  of  Brown; 
but  they  were  struck  with  the  openness  with  which 
these  witnesses  and  others  avowed  that  they  meant 
to  destroy  slavery  if  they  could,  and  in  every  way  they 
could.  Jefferson  Davis,  and  Mason,  of  Virginia,  in 
their  majority  report  for  this  committee,  quote  from 
J.  R.  Giddings,  Dr.  Howe,  and  Mr.  Stearns,  and  thus 
introduce  the  words  of  Brown's  chief  pecuniary  sup 
porter  : l 


1  As  mention  has  been  made  of  other  witnesses  whom  this  com 
mittee  would  have  heard  if  it  could,  I  may  say  that  Colonel  Hig- 
ginson  was  never  summoned,  Gerrit  Smith  was  an  inmate  of  the 
Utica  Asylum,  and  incapable  of  testifying  ;  Frederick  Douglass  and 
Edwin  Morton  evaded  arrest  by  visiting  England.  In  regard  to 
other  persons,  the  report  makes  this  statement  : 

"  Before  closing,  the  committee  deem  it  proper  to  state  that 
four  persons  summoned  as  witnesses,  to  wit  :  John  Brown,  Jr.,  cf 
Ohio,  James  Redpath,  of  Massachusetts,  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  of  New  York,  failing  or 


276  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

As  a  further  exposition  of  the  views  entertained  by  those 
devotees  to  the  so-styled  "  cause  of  freedom,"  the  committee 
refer  to  the  evidence  of  George  L.  Stearns.  This  gentleman 
was,  as  shown  by  his  testimony,  one  of  the  most  active  and 
successful  workers  in  that  "  cause."  Of  his  views  as  to  the 
legitimate  use  of  money  contributed  to  this  "  cause,"  we 
have  this  expression : 

"  From  first  to  last,  I  understood  John  Brown  to  be  a  man 
who  was  opposed  to  slavery,  and,  as  such,  that  he  would  take 
every  opportunity  to  free  slaves  where  he  could ;  I  did  not 
know  in  what  way ;  I  only  knew  that  from  the  fact  of  his  having 
done  it  in  Missouri  in  the  instance  referred  to ;  I  furnished  him 
with  money  because  I  considered  him  as  one  who  would  be  of 
use  in  case  such  troubles  arose  as  had  arisen  previously  in 
Kansas;  that  was  my  object  in  furnishing  the  money;  I  did 
not  ask  him  what  he  was  to  do  with  it,  nor  did  I  suppose  he 
would  do  anything  that  I  should  disapprove." 

To  the  question  "  Do  you  disapprove  of  such  a  transac 
tion  as  that  at  Harper's  Ferry,"  he  answered  : 


refusing  to  appear  before  the  committee,  warrants  were  issued  by 
order  of  the  Senate  for  their  arrest.  Of  these,  Thaddeus  Hyatt 
only  was  arrested  ;  and  on  his  appearance  before  the  Senate,  still 
refusing  obedience  to  the  summons  of  the  committee,  he  was  by 
order  of  the  Senate  committed  to  the  jail  of  the  District  of  Colum 
bia.  In  regard  to  the  others,  it  appeared  by  the  return  of  the 
marshal  of  the  northern  district  of  Ohio,  as  deputy  of  the  Sergeant- 
at-Arms,  that  John  Brown,  Jr.,  at  first  evaded  the  process  of  the 
Senate,  and  afterwards,  with  a  number  of  other  persons,  armed 
themselves  to  prevent  his  arrest.  The  marshal  further  reported  in 
his  return  that  Brown  could  not  be  arrested  unless  he  was  author 
ized  in  like  manner  to  employ  force.  Sanborn  was  arrested  by  a 
deputy  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  afterwards  released  from 
custody  by  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  on 
habeas  corpus.  Redpath,  by  leaving  his  State,  or  otherwise  con 
cealing  himself,  successfully  evaded  the  process  of  the  Senate. 

11  And  the  committee  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further  con 
sideration  of  the  subject," 


POLITICAL    CONFLICT.  277 

"  I  should  have  disapproved  of  it  if  I  had  known  of  it ;  but  I 
have  since  changed  my  opinion  ;  I  believe  John  Brown  to  be 
the  representative  man  of  this  century,  as  Washington  was  of 
the  last — the  Harper's  Ferry  affair,  and  the  capacity  shown  by 
the  Italians  for  self-government,  the  great  events  of  this  age. 
One  will  free  Europe,  and  the  other  America." 

The  remark  was  prophetic,  and  the  names  of  Gari 
baldi  and  of  John  Brown  will  be  coupled  more  and 
more,  as  the  men  who  best  exemplified,  in  the  two 
hemispheres,  the  heroism  that  the  cause  of  liberty 
has  called  forth  in  our  century.  Garibaldi  succeeded, 
John  Brown  seemed  to  fail,  yet  greater  success  fol 
lowed  the  defeat  of  the  Puritan  than  the  victory  of 
the  Italian  hero.  Dr.  Howe  lived  to  see  the  cause  of 
John  Brown  triumphant  in  America,  as  the  cause  of 
Botzaris  had  triumphed  in  Greece.  He  regretted 
the  aid  he  gave  to  that  old  hero  no  more  than  he 
regretted  the  support  he  had  given  to  the  country 
men  of  Botzaris  in  their  direst  need.  He  heard  with 
the  most  solemn  approval,  that  strophe  which  Julia 
Ward  Howe  chanted  in  the  midst  of  contending 
armies  to  the  music  of  the  "John  Brown  Song": 

I  have  read  a  fiery  gospel  writ  in  burnished  rows  of  steel ; 
As  ye  deal  with  my  contemners,  so  with  you  my  grace  shall 

deal; 

Let  the  Hero,  born  of  woman,  crush  the  serpent  with  his  heel, 
Since  God  is  marching  on. 


NOTE. — As  the  Civil  War  practically  extinguished  slavery,  it 
seems  best  to  terminate  the  account  of  Dr.  Howe's  political  life 
here,  and  to  consider  his  labors  in  the  war  period  as  a  part  of  his 
later  philanthropic  work. 


BOOK    FOURTH. 

THE   COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE   AGE. 
1861-1876. 


The  rest  that  earth  denied  is  thine, — 

Ah,  is  it  rest  ?  we  ask, 
Or,  traced  by  knowledge  more  divine, 

Some  larger,  nobler  task  ? 

Had  but  those  boundless  fields  of  blue 

One  darkened  sphere  like  this  ; 
But  what  has  heaven  for  thee  to  do 

In  realms  of  perfect  bliss  ? 

No  cloud  to  lift,  no  mind  to  clear, 

No  rugged  path  to  smooth, 
No  struggling  soul  to  help  and  cheer, 

No  mortal  grief  to  soothe  ! 

Enough  ;  is  there  a  world  of  love, 

No  more  we  ask  to  know  ; 
The  hand  will  guide  thy  ways  above, 

That  shaped  thy  task  below. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     CIVIL     WAR     AND      ITS     MEANING     FOR    DR.    HOWE. 

THE  outbreak  of  the  great  Rebellion  of  the  Slave- 
masters,  in  1861,  brought  no  dismay  to  Dr.  Howe 
any  more  than  to  Wendell  Phillips.  They  saw  in  it 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  negro  slavery,  and  they 
welcomed  the  conflict,  with  all  its  possibilities  of 
national  humiliation,  and  personal  ruin,  and  the  sor 
row  of  bereaved  families.  Their  first  thought  was 
that  which  Tennyson  so  well  uttered  at  the  opening 
of  a  much  less  momentous  struggle — the  Crimean 
war. 

"  I  wake  to  the  higher  aims 

Of  a  land  that  has  lost  for  a  little  her  lust  of  gold, 
And  love  of  a  peace  that  was  full  of  wrongs  and  shames, 
Horrible,  hateful,  monstrous,  not  to  be  told  ; 
Then  hail,  once  more,  to  the  banner  of  battle  unrolled  ! 
Though  many  a  light  shall  darken  and  many  shall  weep, 
Yet  God's  just  wrath  shall  be  wreaked  on  a  giant  liar ; 
And  many  a  darkness  into  the  light  shall  leap, 
And  the  heart  of  a  people  beat  with  one  desire." 

When  the  desire  of  the  Northern  people  for  na 
tional  unity  and  freedom  burst  forth  in  April,  1861, 
with  a  fervor  which  made  it  the  universal  reiteration 
of  Webster's  grand  war-cry,  "  Liberty  and  Union, 

(281) 


252  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable,"  Dr.  Howe 
was  in  his  sixtieth  year,  and  had  passed  the  age  for 
military  service.  His  uncertain  health,  moreover, 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  bear  the  risks  and  ex 
posures  of  camp  life.  But  his  energy  and  experience 
were  immediately  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  As  a  member  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 
he  did  much  service,  and  his  good  counsels  and  gen 
erous  cooperation  were  long  remembered  by  those 
who  then  labored  with  him  to  alleviate  the  horrors 
of  war.  Among  these  was  his  ancient  friend  Miss 
Dix,  whose  life,  admirably  written  by  Francis  Tiffany, 
discloses  the  large  share  Dr.  Howe  had  in  her  first 
efforts  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  insane.  In 
this  later  work  of  providing  hospitals  and  nursing 
for  the  sick  and  wounded,  the  two  friends,  almost  of 
equal  age1  accomplished  much,  but  the  labors  and 
cares  of  army  life  were  too  much  for  both  of  them. 
It  was  otherwise  with  the  practical  tasks  of  Emancipa 
tion,  the  first  of  which  was  to  prepare  the  public  mind 
for  the  reversal  of  the  whole  national  policy  in  regard 
to  slavery  as  it  had  been  enforced  for  forty  years. 
Dr.  Howe  threw  himself  into  this  movement  with  all 
the  zeal  of  youth  and  all  the  wisdom  of  age.  After 
his  preliminary  service  in  the  Sanitary  Commission 
was  over,  and  before  the  war  had  continued  five 
months,  he  called  a  meeting  of  anti-slavery  men  at 
his  office  in  Boston  ;  out  of  which  grew  the  Emanci 
pation  League,  the  reestablishment  of  the  Common 
wealth  newspaper  as  its  organ,  and  many  of  the  active 


1Dr.  Howe  was  born  November,  1801;  Dorothea  Lynde   Dix, 
April  4,  1802.     She  long  outlived  her  friend,  dying  July  17,  1887. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  283 

influences  which,  in  1862-63,  brought  on  the  irreversi 
ble  decree  of  President  Lincoln,  abolishing  slavery, 
under  the  "war  powers"  of  the  National  Govern 
ment.  I  find  among  my  old  papers  this  record  of  the 
meeting  : 

BOSTON,  Sept.  5,  1861. 

A  meeting  called  for  this  day  was  held  at  Dr.  Howe's  room, 
22  Bromfield  street,  to  take  into  consideration  measures  tend 
ing  to  the  Emancipation  of  the  Slaves  as  a  War  Policy.  Pres 
ent  :  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Wm.  Henry  Channing,  Wm.  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Thomas  H.  Webb,  Edmund  Ouincy,  James  D.  Whelp- 
ley,  Samuel  G.  Howe,  F.  W.  Bird,  Wendell  Phillips,  Gro.  L. 
Stearns.1  The  subscriber  was  requested  to  invite  you  to  attend 
an  adjourned  meeting  at  the  same  room,  on  Tuesday  the 
loth  inst.,  at  3  P.  M. 

(Signed)     G.  L.  STEARNS. 

F.  B.  Sanborn,  Esq.,  Concord. 

Dr.  Howe  entered  actively  into  the  campaign  for 
Emancipation,  and  had  been  in  Washington  laboring 
with  President  Lincoln  again  and  again,  during  the 
military  preponderance  of  McClellan,  which  was  felt 


1  With  a  single  exception,  these  were  the  names  of  prominent 
emancipationists  in  Boston.  Garrison,  Phillips,  and  Edmund 
Quincy  were  of  the  extreme  non-voting  Abolitionists;  Howe,  Bird, 
and  Stearns  were  political  anti-slavery  men,  friends  of  Charles 
Sumner  and  members  of  the  Bird  Club;  Clarke  and  Channing  (the 
latter  a  nephew  of  the  great  Dr.  Channing)  were  Unitarian  clergy 
men,  who  had  separated  from  their  sect  more  or  less  on  the  slavery 
question;  and  Dr.  T.  H.  Webb  was  the  faithful,  hard-working  Sec 
retary  of  the  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Company,  who  had  done 
more  for  the  freedom  of  Kansas  than  all  his  associates  in  that  com 
pany  put  together.  In  the  "  Memoir  of  W.  L.  Garrison"  by  his 
sons,  vol.  iv. ,  p.  48,  the  date  given  for  the  formation  of  the  Eman 
cipation  League  is  December,  1861  ;  but  this  note  shows  that  the 
idea  originated  with  Dr.  Howe  as  early  as  August  of  that  year. 


284  DR-    S.    G.    HOWE. 

by  all  the  anti-slavery  rnen  to  be  friendly  to  the  con 
tinuance  of  slavery.  The  turning-point  in  the  na 
tional  administration  was  thus  marked  by  him  in 
this  letter  to  his  friend  Mr.  Bird  : 

U.  S.  SANITARY  COMMISSION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  March  5,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  never  want  to  be  glad  alone,  and  I 
hasten  to  communicate  to  you  the  cause  of  my  present  joy. 
The  fact,  long  ago  suspected  by  the  instinct  of  the  people,  be 
gins  to  get  through  the  skull  of  the  "  powers  that  be."  An 
egregious  blunder  of  McClellan,  which  made  a  botch  and  fail 
ure  of  the  late  proposed  forward  march,  has  convinced  the 
President  that  he  is  utterly  incompetent  to  the  task  of  handling 
a  great  army.  There  is  a  great  fight  going  on  over  him,  and  I 
do  not  doubt  that,  though  his  fall  may  be  delayed,  it  will  come 
soon.1  I  have  long  thought  he  was  a  humbug  (an  unintentional 
one),  and  I  think  the  more  he  stirs  now  to  defend  himself,  the 
more  plainly  will  he  show  his  incompetency. 

The  President  has  been  long  on  the  anxious  seat;  but  has,  at 
last,  had  a  change  of  heart,  and  has  set  his  face  steadily  Zion- 
ward,  though  he  is  as  yet  rather  ashamed  of  his  Lord.  He 
considers  slavery  to  be  a  great  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
human  progress,  and  especially  of  this  country.  He  feels  that 
whoever  has  a  hand  in  its  removal  will  stand  out  before  poster 
ity  as  a  benefactor  of  his  race.  Why  in  the  world,  then,  does 
he  not  "  speak  out  in  meetin'  "  and  relieve  his  mind  ?  Simply 
because  of  his  fatal  habit  of  procrastinating ;  he  puts  off  and 
puts  off  the  evil  day  of  effort,  and  stands  shivering  with  his 
hand  on  the  string  of  the  shower-bath.  He  has,  however,  gone 
so  far  as  even  to  make  up  a  message  to  Congress,  which,  if 
sent,  will  prove  to  be  a  bomb-shell.  If  he  is  not  further  de 
moralized  by  victories,  he  will  be  brought  up  to  the  scratch. 
As  to  Congress,  there  are  a  few  earnest  and  disinterested 


1  McClellan  was  removed  from  the  sole   command   March  n, 
1862,  within  a  week  after  this  letter. 


THE   COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE   AGE.  285 

patriots,  but  they  could  be  carried  off  in  an  omnibus ;  and  if, 
after  their  departure,  some  Guy  Fawkes  could  successfully 
explode  his  mine,  there  would  be  no  great  loss  to  this  world, 
though,  doubtless,  a  sudden  increase  of  the  population  of 
Hades. 

Do  you  think  of  going  to  Fortress  Monroe  ?  I  shall  prob 
ably  be  at  liberty  to  leave  on  Saturday,  though  perhaps  not 
until  Wednesday  next. 

The  President's  Message  thus  foreshadowed  was 
sent  to  Congress  the  next  day ;  it  contained  a 
proposition  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  with 
compensation  from  the  National  Government  to  the 
States  which  might  adopt  such  a  measure.  Congress 
passed  the  desired  vote,1  yet  nothing  resulted  from 
it  at  home  by  reason  of  the  pro-slavery  feeling  in 
the  border  States  ;  but  abroad  it  began  to  "  turn  the 
current  of  popular  feeling  "  in  favor  of  the  North. 

Addressing  the  Emancipation  League  in  Boston 
four  days  later,  Phillips  welcomed  the  message,  and, 
quoting  from  Dr.  Howe's  letter,  said:  "If  the  Presi 
dent  has  not  entered  Canaan,  he  has  turned  his  face 
Zionward."  A  year  afterward,  Dr.  Howe,  with  Robert 
Dale  Owen  and  James  McKay,  were  appointed  by 
Secretary  Stanton  a  "Freedmen's  Inquiry  Commis 
sion  "  to  consider  what  should  be  done  for  the  slaves 
already  emancipated.  In  course  of  this  inquiry  he 
had  occasion  to  consult  his  friend  Prof.  Agassiz  as  to 
the  physiologic  and  ethnologic  future  of  the  negro 


1  The  measure  received  the  President's  signature,  April  10, 1862, 
and  on  the  i6th  of  April  he  signed  the  bill  abolishing  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  with  compensation  to  the  owners.  A  few 
slaves  were  freed  under  this  act,  but  none  under  the  measure 
recommended  in  the  message  of  March  6th. 


286  CR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

race  ;  and  his  letter,  as  published  in  the  "  Life  of 
Agassiz,"  will  show  how  Dr.  Howe  viewed  these 
questions  twenty-eight  years  ago.  They  were  written 
in  August,  1863,  and  their  important  parts  are  the 
following.1 

The  more  I  consider  the  subject  to  be  examined  and  reported 
upon,  the  more  I  am  impressed  by  its  vastness  ;  the  more  I  see 
that  its  proper  treatment  requires  a  consideration  of  political, 
physiological,  and  ethnological  principles.  Before  deciding 
upon  any  political  policy,  it  is  necessary  to  decide  several  im 
portant  questions,  which  require  more  knowledge  for  their  so 
lution  than  I  possess.  Among  these  questions,  this  one  occu 
pies  me  most  now.  Is  it  probable  that  the  African  race,  repre 
sented  by  less  than  two  million  blacks  and  a  little  more  than 
two  million  mulattoes,  unrecruited  by  immigration,  will  be  a 
persistent  race  in  this  country?  or  will  it  be  absorbed,  diluted, 
and  finally  effaced  by  the  white  race,  numbering  twenty-four 
millions,  and  continually  increased  by  immigration,  besides 
natural  causes  ?  Will  not  the  general  practical  amalgamation 
fostered  by  slavery  become  more  general  after  its  abolition?  If 
so,  will  not  the  proportion  of  mulattoes  become  greater  and 
that  of  the  pure  blacks  less  ?  With  an  increase  and  final  nu 
merical  prevalence  of  mulattoes,  the  question  of  the  fertility  of 
the  latter  becomes  a  very  important  element  in  the  calculation. 
Can  it  be  a  persistent  race  here  where  pure  blacks  are  repre 
sented  by  2,  and  the  whites  by  20-24  ?  Is  it  n°t  true  that  in 
the  Northern  States,  at  least,  the  mulatto  is  unfertile,  leaving 
but  few  children,  and  those  mainly  lymphatic  and  scrofulous  ? 
In  those  sections  where  the  blacks  and  mulattoes  together  make 
from  seventy  to  eighty  and  even  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
population  will  there  be,  after  the  abolition  of  slavery,  a  suffi 
ciently  large  influx  of  whites  to  counteract  the  present  numeri 
cal  preponderance  of  blacks  ?  It  looks  now  as  if  the  whites 


1  See     Louis    Agassiz,    His  Life  and  Correspondence,  vol.    II, 
pp.  592-617. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  287 

would  exploiter  the  labors  of  the  blacks,  and  that  social  servi 
tude  will  continue  long  in  spite  of  political  equality.  You  will 
see  the  importance  of  considering  carefully  the  natural  laws  of 
increase  and  their  modification  by  existing  causes  before  de 
ciding  upon  any  line  of  policy.  If  there  be  irresistible  natural 
tendencies  to  the  growth  of  a  persistent  black  race  in  the  Gulf 
and  River  States,  we  must  not  make  bad  worse  by  futile  at 
tempts  to  resist  it.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  natural  tend 
encies  are  to  the  diffusion  and  final  disappearance  of  the  black 
and  colored  race,  then  our  policy  should  be  modified  accord 
ingly.  I  should  be  very  glad,  my  dear  sir,  if  you  could  give  me 
your  views  upon  this  and  cognate  matters.  If,  however,  your 
occupations  will  not  permit  you  to  give  time  to  this  matter, 
perhaps  you  will  assist  me  by  pointing  to  works  calculated  to 
throw  light  upon  the  subject  of  my  inquiry,  or  by  putting  me 
in  correspondence  with  persons  who  have  the  ability  and  the 
leisure  to  write  about  it. 

Be  assured  I  shall  try  to  keep  my  mind  open  to  conviction 
and  to  forbear  forming  any  theory  before  observing  a  wide 
circle  of  facts.  I  do  not  know  how  you  got  the  idea  that  I  had 
decided  in  favor  of  anything  about  the  future  of  the  colored 
population.  I  have  corresponded  with  the  founders  of  "  La 
Societe  Cosmopolite  pour  la  fusion  cles  races  humaines  "  in 
France — an  amalgamation  society,  founded  upon  the  theory 
that  the  perfect  man  is  to  be  the  result  of  the  fusion  of  all  the 
races  upon  earth.  I  have  not,  however,  the  honor  of  being  a 
member  thereof.  Indeed,  I  think  it  hardly  exists.  I  hear,  too, 
that  several  of  our  prominent  anti-slavery  gentlemen,  worthy  of 
respect  for  their  zeal  and  ability,  have  publicly  advocated  the 
doctrines  of  amalgamation  ;  but  I  do  not  know  upon  what 
grounds. 

I  do,  indeed,  hold  that  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  we  are  to 
do  the  manifest  righ-t,  regardless  of  consequences.  If  you  ask 
me  who  is  to  decide  what  is  the  manifest  right,  I  answer  that 
in  morals,  as  well  as  in  mathematics,  there  are  certain  truths  so 
simple  as  to  be  admitted  at  siglit  as  axioms  by  every  one  of 
common  intelligence  and  honesty.  The  right  to  life  is  as  clear 


288  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

as  that  two  and  two  make  four,  and  none  dispute  it.  The  right 
to  liberty  and  to  ownership  of  property  fairly  earned  is  just  as 
clear  to  the  enlightened  mind  as  that  5x6—30;  but  the  less 
enlightened  may  require  to  reflect  about  it,  just  as  they  may 
want  concrete  signs  to  show  that  five  times  six  do  really  make 
thirty.  As  we  descend  in  numbers  and  in  morals,  the  intuitive 
perceptions  become  less  and  less  ;  and  though  the  truths  are 
there,  and  ought  to  be  admitted  as  axiomatic,  they  are  not  at 
once  seen  and  felt  by  ordinary  minds.  Now,  so  far  as  the  rights 
of  blacks  and  the  duties  of  whites  are  manifest  to  common  and 
honest  minds,  so  far  would  I  admit  the  first  and  perform  the 
second,  though  the  heavens  fall.  I  would  not  only  advocate 
entire  freedom,  equal  rights  and  privileges,  and  open  competi 
tion  for  social  distinction,  but  what  now  seems  to  me  the  shock 
ing  and  downward  policy  of  amalgamation. 

But  the  heavens  are  not  going  to  fall,  and  we  are  not  going  to 
be  called  upon  to  favor  any  policy  discordant  with  natural 
instincts  and  cultivated  tastes.  A  case  may  be  supposed  in 
which  the  higher  race  ought  to  submit  to  the  sad  fate  of  dilu 
tion  and  debasement  of  its  blood, — as  on  an  island,  and  where 
long  continued  wrong  and  suffering  had  to  be  atoned  for.  But 
this  is  hardly  conceivable,  because,  even  in  what  seems  punish 
ment  and  atonement,  the  law  of  harmonious  development  still 
rules.  God  does  not  punish  wrong  and  violence  done  to  one 
part  of  our  nature,  by  requiring  us  to  do  wrong  and  violence  to 
another  part.  Even  Nemesis  wields  rather  a  guiding-rod  than 
a  scourge.  We  need  take  no  step  backward,  but  only  aside,  to 
get  sooner  into  the  right  path. 

Slavery  has  acted  as  a  disturbing  force  in  the  development  of 
our  national  character,  and  produced  monstrous  deformities  of 
a  bodily  as  well  as  moral  nature,  for  it  has  impaired  the  purity 
and  lowered  the  quality  of  the  national  blood.  It  imported 
Africans,  and,  to  prevent  their  extinction  by  competition  with  a 
more  vigorous  race,  it  set  a  high  premium  on  colored  blood.  It 
has  fostered  and  multiplied  a  vigorous  black  race,  and  engen 
dered  a  feeble  mulatto  breed.  Many  of  each  of  these  classes 
have  drifted  northward,  right  in  the  teeth  of  thermal  laws,  to 


Til"    COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  289 

find  homes  where  they  would  never  live  by  natural  election. 
Now,  by  utterly  rooting  out  slavery,  and  by  that  means  alone, 
shall  we  remove  these  disturbing  forces  and  allow  fair  play  to 
natural  laws,  by  the  operation  of  which,  it  seems  to  me,  the 
colored  population  will  disappear  from  the  Northern  and 
Middle  States,  if  not  from  the  continent,  before  the  more  vigor 
ous  and  prolific  white  race.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  states 
man  to  favor,  by  wise  measures,  the  operation  of  these  laws 
and  the  purification  and  elevation  of  the  national  blood. 

In  the  way  of  this  is  the  existence  of  the  colored  population 
of  the  Northern  and  Middle  States.  Now,  while  we  should 
grant  to  every  human  being  all  the  rights  we  claim  for  our 
selves,  and  bear  in  mind  the  cases  of  individual  excellence  of 
colored  people,  we  must,  I  think,  admit  that  mulattoism  is  hy 
bridism,  and  that  it  is  unnatural  and  undesirable.  It  has  been 
brought  to  its  present  formidable  proportions  by  several  causes, 
mainly  by  slavery.  Its  evils  are  to  be  met  and  lessened  as  far 
as  may  be  by  wise  statesmanship  and  by  enlightenment  of 
pub.lic  opinion.  These  may  do  much.  Some  proclaim  amal 
gamation  as  the  remedy,  upon  the  theory  that  by  diluting  black 
blood  with  white  blood  in  larger  and  larger  proportions,  it  will 
finally  be  so  far  diluted  as  to  be  imperceptible,  and  will  disap 
pear.  They  forget  that  we  may  not  do  the  wrong  that  right 
may  come  of  it.  They  forget  that  no  amount  of  diffusion  will 
exterminate  whatever  exists;  that  a  pint  of  ink  diffused  in  a 
lake  is  still  there,  and  the  water  is  only  the  less  pure. 

Others  insist  that  mulattoism  is  not  and  cannot  be  persist 
ent  beyond  four  generations.  In  other  words,  that,  like  some 
other  abnormal  and  diseased  conditions,  it  is  self-limiting,  and 
that  the  body  social  will  be  purged  of  it.  In  the  face  of  these 
and  other  theories,  it  is  our  duty  to  gather  as  many  facts  and 
as  much  knowledge  as  is  possible,  in  order  to  throw  light  upon 
every  part  of  the  subject ;  nobody  can  furnish  more  than  you 
can. 

Faithfully  yours, 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE. 

These  statements,  made  by  Dr.  Howe  nearly  thirty 


290  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

years  ago,  some  of  which  have  been  strikingly  con 
firmed  and  others  disproved  by  the  course  of  events, 
show  with  what  candor  of  mind  he  approached  the 
subject  in  which  he  had  been  so  long  interested  as  a 
partisan.  It  was  inevitable  that  his  theories  and 
those  of  all  other  men  should  yield  to  the  political, 
social,  and  economic  necessities  of  the  nation.  In  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Southern  States,  he  steadily 
supported  the  policy  of  his  friend,  Senator  Sumner, 
favoring  negro  suffrage  in  those  States  as  a  political 
measure,  made  necessary  by  the  state  of  feeling 
among  the  white  population.  But  he  also  strenu 
ously  favored  the  education  of  the  colored  race  by 
all  practical  means,  well  knowing,  however,  that  the 
performance  of  political  duties  would  be  the  most 
powerful  education  that  the  freedmen  could  receive, 
now  that  the  close  of  the  war  had  made  it  needless 
to  continue  their  military  education  as  soldiers  in  the 
national  army.  He  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  advo 
cate  the  enlistment  of  colored  troops,  which  was  be 
gun  in  Kansas  by  the  men  whom  he  had  aided  in 
their  contest  for  freedom  in  1856,  and  continued  with 
great  earnestness  by  his  friends  Governor  Andrew 
and  George  L.  Stearns  in  Massachusetts.  Indeed 
every  measure  looking  towards  the  reorganization  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  basis  of  national  freedom 
and  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  constantly 
received  his  support,  and  some  of  them  originated  in 
his  fertile  and  intuitive  mind. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE     NESTOR    AND    ACHILLES     OF     PUBLIC     CHARITIES. 

IT  was  odd  to  see  Dr.  Howe  at  any  period  of  his 
long  life  appear  as  the  advocate  of  peace.  Like  the 
great  Captain  in  all  philanthropies,  he  came  not  to 
bring  peace,  but  a  sword.  He  was  as  naturally  mil 
itant  as  he  was  constitutionally  charitable  and  the 
friend  of  mankind.  When  the  long  warfare  against 
negro  slavery  and  the  servility  of  American  freemen 
was  practically  ended,  late  in  1864,  by  the  success  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  Emancipation  policy,  and  his  re 
election  to  the  Presidency,  Dr.  Howe  was  called  by 
his  friend  Governor  Andrew  to  another  long  cam 
paign  against  false  methods  and  hurtful  conservatism 
in  the  field  of  public  charity.  A  "Board  of  State 
Charities"  (the  first  ever  established  in  America)  had 
been  created  in  1863,  in  Massachusetts,  at  Governor 
Andrew's  request,  and  Dr.  Howe  was  made  a  mem 
ber  of  this  body  towards  the  close  of  1864,  when  he 
was  63  years  old.  He  showed  himself  a  Nestor  in 
counsel  and  an  Achilles  in  action  in  this  new  field  of 
strife.  In  October,  1865,  he  became,  by  the  choice 
of  his  colleagues,  Chairman  of  the  Board,  and  so  con 
tinued  until  he  declined  a  reelection,  in  1874  ;  nor 
did  he  finally  withdraw  from  the  Board  until  June, 


292  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

1875,  when  he  began  to  give  up  all  public  employ 
ments. 

The  genius  of  Dr.  Howe  soon  found  means  to  turn 
the  theory  and  practice  of  public  charity  in  Massa 
chusetts  in  new  directions,  and  to  convert  by  gradual 
changes  the  existing  policy  of  congregating  the  poor 
and  the  defective  in  large  establishments  into  a  better 
and  wiser  system.  In  its  full  development,  this  sys 
tem  requires  the  thorough  classification  and  the  dif 
fusion  among  the  people,  so  far  as  possible,  of  the 
exceptional  classes  with  which  public  charity  must 
deal.  In  practice  much  yet  remains  to  be  done,  but 
his  theory  has  become  the  accepted  one  in  Massa 
chusetts  and  elsewhere.  In  whatever  he  undertook, 
and  in  all  the  detailed  work  of  the  Board,  his  courage, 
his  enthusiasm,  his  faith  in  the  future  good  of  man 
kind,  enabled  him  to  overcome  obstacles  which 
others  had  found  insurmountable.  He  used  to  define 
obstacles  as  "  things  to  be  overcome,"  and  generally 
the  result  justified  his  definition.  Happily  combining 
theory  and  practice,  insight  and  experience,  the  see 
ing  eye  and  the  helping  hand,  he  was  better  fitted 
than  any  man  of  our  time  to  perceive  and  apply  the 
laws — spiritual  no  less  than  economic — by  which 
public  and  private  charity  should  be  governed. 

Dr.  Howe  accepted  this  position  of  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  State  Charities  just  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  in  November,  1865,  and  he  continued  in 
it  for  about  nine  years,  when  his  age  and  increasing 
infirmities  led  him,  in  1874,  to  give  it  up.  In  these 
busy  years,  during  which  he  passed  the  allotted  period 
of  three  score  years  and  ten,  he  performed  a  service 
no  less  useful  and  more  general  in  its  results  than  at 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  293 

any  time  during  his  more  active  period  of  philan 
thropy.  For  his  varied  experience  combining  with 
his  native  insight  enabled  him  to  formulate  principles 
and  even  to  forecast  the  future,  in  the  wide  organi 
zation  of  charities  throughout  the  United  States. 
The  system  he  devised  for  Massachusetts,  though 
never  fully  carried  out  in  his  lifetime,  now  prevails 
to  a  great  extent  there,  and  in  a  less  degree  in  many 
other  American  States;  while  it  has  been  introduced 
in  European  countries  in  some  of  its  features.  This 
is  but  a  fair  exchange  between  Europe  and  America, 
since  it  was  from  some  of  those  countries  that  Dr. 
Howe  himself  took  the  hint  for  other  portions  of  his 
charitable  system. 

This  system  was  developed  and  illustrated  in  suc 
cessive  annual  reports  of  the  Board  over  which  he 
presided  from  1866  to  1873.  The  most  formal  state 
ment  of  its  principles  is  to  be  found  in  the  second 
Report  of  the  Board,  issued  in  1866,  some  passages 
from  which  may  here  be  cited.  Dr.  Howe  there  gives 
these 

GENERAL    PRINCIPLES    OF    PUBLIC    CHARITY. 

In  considering  what  measures  ought  to  be  taken  for  the  care 
and  treatment  of  the  dependent  and  vicious  classes,  we  are  to 
bear  in  mind  several  principles. 

First.  That  if,  by  investing  one  dollar,  we  prevent  an  evil  the 
correction  of  which  would  cost  ten  cents  a  year,  we  save  four 
per  cent. 

Second.  That  it  is  better  to  separate  and  diffuse  the  depen 
dent  classes  than  to  congregate  them. 

Third.  That  we  ought  to  avail  ourselves  as  much  as  possible 
of  those  remedial  agencies  which  exist  in  society — the  family, 
social  influences,  industrial  occupations,  and  the  like. 


294  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Fourth.  That  we  should  enlist  not  only  the  greatest  possible 
amount  of  popular  sympathy,  but  the  greatest  number  of  indi 
viduals  and  of  families,  in  the  care  and  treatment  of  the 
dependent. 

Fifth.  That  we  should  avail  ourselves  of  reponsible  societies 
and  organizations  which  aim  to  reform,  support  or  help  any 
class  of  dependents ;  thus  lessening  the  direct  agency  of  the 
State,  and  enlarging  that  of  the  people  themselves. 

Sixth.  That  we  should  build  up  public  institutions  only  in  the 
last  resort. 

Seventh.  That  these  should  be  kept  as  small  as  is  consistent 
with  wise  economy,  and  arranged  so  as  to  turn  the  strength 
and  the  faculties  of  the  inmates  to  the  best  account. 

Eighth.  That  we  should  not  retain  the  inmates  any  longer 
than  is  manifestly  for  their  good,  irrespective  of  their  usefulness 
in  the  institution. 

These  maxims  Dr.  Howe  proceeded  to  illustrate 
by  example  and  argument,  dwelling  particularly  on 
the  necessity  for  separating  and  diffusing,  rather 
than  congregating,  the  dependent  classes  ;  on  the  im 
portance  of  enlisting  the  people  themselves  in  the 
direct  work  of  social  reform,  and  of  elevating  the 
dependent  classes,  so  that  public  charities  and  re 
formatory  agencies  may  be  lessened  in  number  and 
contracted  in  sphere.  He  also  undertook  to  show 
that  the  system  of  providing  large  public  institutions 
for  the  permanent  dwelling  of  special  classes  of  the 
dependent  is  unsound  in  principle  ;  that  such  estab 
lishments  are  only  to  be  tolerated  as  a  choice  of 
evils  ;  and  consequently  that  they  should  not  be 
multiplied,  and  those  existing  should  not  be  enlarged 
without  pressing  necessity.  These  were  all  matters 
of  serious  moment,  and  some  of  them  were  quite  new 
to  the  people,  who  found  themselves  called  upon  to 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  295 

take  up  the  work  of  public  charity  instead  of  leaving 
it  to  official  persons.  This  they  have  since  done  to  a 
great  extent,  but  in  1866  not  only  the  practice,  but 
the  theory  itself,  was  little  known.  Upon  this  point  I 
may  quote  Dr.  Howe's  argument,  which  the  next 
quarter  of  a  century  after  1866  has  fully  sustained  : 

The  attempt  to  reduce  to  its  lowest  point  the  number  of  the 
dependent,  vicious,  and  criminal  classes,  and  tenderly  to  provide 
for  those  who  cannot  be  lifted  out  of  them,  is  surely  worthy  the 
best  efforts  of  a  Christian  people.  But  that  the  work  may  be 
well  done,  it  must  be  by  the  people  themselves,  directly,  and  in 
the  spirit  of  Him  who  taught  that  the  poor  ye  shall  always  have 
•with  you — that  is  near  you,  in  your  hearts  and  affections, 
within  your  sight  and  knowledge  ;  and  not  thrust  far  away  from 
you,  and  always  shut  up  alone  by  themselves  in  almshouses  or 
reformatories,  that  they  may  be  kept  at  the  cheapest  rate  by  such 
a  cold  abstraction  as  a  State  government.  The  people  cannot  be 
absolved  from  those  duties  of  chanty  which  require  knowledge 
of  and  sympathy  with  sufferers;  and  they  should  never  needlessly 
delegate  the  power  of  doing  good.  There  can  be  no  vicarious 
virtue  ;  and  true  charity  is  not  done  by  deputy. 

There  should  be  the  least  possible  intervening  agency  between 
the  people  and  the  dependent  classes  ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
wants  and  sufferings,  the  capacities  and  the  desires  of  the  latter 
should  be  brought  home  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  former. 
If  organized  public  charity  must  exist,  the  distinction  between 
it  and  private  charity  should  never  be  needlessly  increased  by 
any  action  of  government.  Each  citizen  should  be  led  not  only 
to  sympathize  with  all  of  whatever  class,  but  to  show  sympathy 
by  action.  If,  for  instance,  we  are  to  have  almshouses,  they 
should  be  so  organized  as  to  repel  the  lazy  or  criminal  pauper, 
but  to  attract  the  kindly  visitor,  and  enlist  the  sympathies  of 
the  people.  There  need  be  no  fear  of  exhausting  the  pop 
ular  heart,  for  it  is  like  the  widow's  cruse,  and  yields  more 
affection  as  it  is  more  largely  drawn  upon.  The  sympathies  of 
the  people  can  always  be  easily  called  forth. 


296  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

Dr.  Howe  next  spoke  of 

THE    TRUE    FAMILY    SYSTEM. 

In  providing  for  the  poor,  the  dependent,  and  the  vicious, 
especially  for  the  young,  we  must  take  the  ordinary  family  for 
our  model.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  they  do  not  as  yet 
form  with  us  a  well-marked  and  persistent  class,  but  a  conven 
tional,  and,  perhaps,  only  a  temporary  one.  They  do  not  differ 
from  other  men,  except  that,  taken  as  a  whole,  they  inherited 
less  favorable  moral  tendencies,  and  less  original  vigor.  Care 
should  be  taken  that  we  do  not  by  our  treatment  transform  the 
conventional  class  into  a  real  and  persistent  one.  In  pro 
viding  for  them  we  are  to  consider  that,  although  there  exists 
in  them  as  in  all  men  a  strong  gregarious  instinct,  out  of  which 
grows  society,  there  are  yet  stronger  domestic  instincts  out  of 
which  grow  the  family,  and  upon  which  depend  the  affections 
and  the  happiness  of  the  individual.  We  cannot  make  the 
gratification  of  one  instinct  atone  for  the  disappointment  of  the 
others.  No  amount  of  instruction  and  mental  culture  compen 
sates  for  stunted  affections  ;  no  abundance  of  society  compen 
sates  for  poverty  of  domestic  relations  ;  and  the  denial  of  these 
to  the  dependent  poor,  especially  to  the  young,  can  only  be  jus 
tified  by  stern  necessity.  The  family  has  been  called  the  social 
unit.  It  is,  indeed,  the  basis  without  which  there  will  be  no 
real  society,  but  a  multitude  of  individuals  who  harden  into  self 
ishness  as  they  grow  older.  By  means  of  the  affections  grow 
ing  out  of  the  family,  the  individual  is  divided  into  many,  and 
the  interests  of  others  are  felt  to  be  his  own. 

God  not  only  "  set  the  solitary  in  families,"  and  made  "  blood 
thicker  than  water,"  but  seems  to  have  ordained  that  the  natu 
ral  institution  of  the  family,  growing  out  of  kindred,  and  long 
familiar  intercourse,  must  be  at  the  foundation  of  all  perma 
nent  social  institutions,  and  that  by  no  human  contrivance 
should  any  effectual  substitute  be  found  for  it. 

It  would  be  a  beautiful  and  most  hopeful  sight  to  see  fifteen 
hundred  children  and  youth — of  a  class  who  elsewhere  are  con 
fined  in  reformatories,  or  shut  up  in  pauper  houses — scattered 


THE    COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE   AGE.  297 

over  our  Commonwealth,  and  cared  for  by  the  people  them 
selves.  What  need  of  organixing  emigration  for  our  unem 
ployed  unmarried  women,  and  opening  fields  for  their  energies 
on  the  Pacific  Slope  when  such  a  blessed  work  as  this  may  be 
done  at  their  own  doors  ?  The  children  themselves  would 
thus  be  placed  in  circumstances  most  likely  to  correct  the 
effects  of  the  unfavorable  tendencies  which  they  may  have 
inherited,  and  of  the  evil  habits  into  which  they  may  have 
fallen. 

This  hope  of  Dr.  Howe  has  since  been  fulfilled, 
and  there  are  now  in  Massachusetts  from  1,200  to 
i, 600  children  and  youth  of  the  class  mentioned,  living 
in  families  instead  of  being  cooped  up  in  great  estab 
lishments.  This  method  of  family  care  for  the  de 
pendent  has  also  been  applied  to  the  insane,  as  Dr. 
Howe  had  recommended,  first  of  all  men  in  America. 
When  visiting  Europe  for  the  last  time,  in  1867,  he 
inspected  the  Belgian  Colony  of  the  Insane  at  Gheel, 
near  Antwerp,  and  in  the  sixth  Report  of  his  Board, 
Dr.  Howe  thus  described  and  reasoned  upon  this 
unique  establishment: 

The  present  general  aspect  of  the  colony  is  this.  There  is  a 
peaceful,  industrious  community  of  eleven  thousand  people, 
one-third  living  in  comfortable  and  sightly  houses  in  the  village 
of  Gheel ;  the  rest  living  in  farm-houses,  scattered  over  about 
30,000  acres  of  land.  Living  with  these  people,  forming  a  part 
of  their  families,  and  undistinguishable  at  first  sight,  are 
between  ten  and  eleven  hundred  lunatics.1  Of  these,  about  a 
score  are  under  constant  confinement,  and  medical  treatment, 
in  the  central  hospital.  The  others  are  lodged,  singly  or  in 
couples,  in  the  houses  of  well-to-do  people  ;  or  are  employed 
as  tailors,  shoemakers,  joiners,  nurses,  or  farm  laborers.  A 


1  These  had  increased  to  1900  when  I  visited  Gheel,  in  June,  1890; 
while  the  number  in  the  Central  Hospital  was  sixty-five.      F.  B.  S. 


298  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

tew,  attended  or  unattended  by  servants,  lounge  about  the 
parades,  coffee-houses,  and  places  of  public  resort,  or  roam  the 
fields,  fishing  and  hunting.  Others  run  up  and  down  the  streets 
upon  errands,  or  carrying  packages  in  their  arms,  or  small 
loads  upon  barrows.  Others  work  on  the  tailor's  bench,  in  the 
shoemaker's  shop,  or  at  the  wash-tub,  or  in  the  kitchen  or 
nursery,  tending  infants  and  little  children.  A  few  sit  and  stare 
with  vacant  look  ;  but  the  most  are  stimulated  to  activity  by  the 
activity  about  them.  But  by  far  the  greater  number  work  upon 
the  farms  in  the  surrounding  country.  Wherever  you  see  a  gang 
of  half  a  dozen  peasant  men  or  women  at  work,  be  sure  there  is 
at  least  one  lunatic  among  them.  Now  and  then,  indeed,  one 
of  them  may  have  gyves  upon  the  ankles,  to  prevent  running ; 
but  for  the  most  part  the  restraint  is  self-imposed ;  and  the 
spirit  of  emulation  and  the  hope  of  reward  are  the  only  restrain 
ing  powers. 

Contrast  this  with  the  general  aspect  of  our  lunatics  at  pub 
lic  institutions.1  These  are  gathered  together,  nearly  two  thous 
and  in  number,  in  seven  establishments.  They  are  all  of  them 
under  restraint,  by  walls  and  by  keepers.  Almost  all  of  them 
are  under  lock  and  key  most  of  the  time,  by  day  and  by  night, 
Go  into  any  of  the  public  institutions  and  ask,  how  many  of 
your  patients  are  free  to  take  their  hats  and  walk  out  of  the 
door  without  the  leave  or  knowledge  of  a  keeper,  and  the 
answer  is,  hardly  one.  Non-restraint  is  preached,  That  is  the 
theory.  Cages,  chains,  straps,  camisoles,  muffs,  bed-cribs, 
restraining-chairs,  are  abolished  as  far  as  it  is  thought  they  can 
be  with  safety.  But  the  old  superstition  remains,  and  the 
whole  establishment  is  one  great  restraining  machine.  Surely 
we  may  learn  something  by  studying  these  contrasted  pictures. 
There,  freedom  is  the  rule,  confinement  the  exception.  Here, 
confinement  is  the  rule,  freedom  the  exception.  There  the  gen 
eral  rule  is  occupation  out  of  doors,  here  it  is  confinement  in 
idleness. 

Make  allowance  for  difference  of  race,  of  education,  of  habits  ; 


1  He  means  in  Massachusetts  alone. 


THE    COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  299 

make  all  proper  deductions  for  mistakes  and  exaggerations ; 
allow  for  the  fact  the  insane  at  Gheel  are  to  a  certain  extent 
picked  cases,  still  there  remains  this  striking  contrast.  But 
can  the  colony  system  as  practised  at  Gheel  be  introduced  into 
Massachusetts  ?  Surely  not,  now ;  nor  ever,  perhaps,  as  a 
whole.  Gheel  was  not  enacted,  nor  built ;  it  grew.  Planted 
centuries  ago,  the  virtue  that  was  in  the  seminal  idea — occupa 
tion  for  the  insane  in  company  with  the  sane — counteracted  the 
false  ideas,  and  kept  the  whole  in  vigorous  life.  It  took  cen 
turies,  too,  to  educate  a  people  to  carry  on  the  system.  But 
growth  of  all  kinds  is  more  rapid  with  us ;  and  if  we  plant  good 
seed,  free  from  tares,  the  growth  here  will  be  more  in  one  gen 
eration  than  there  in  a  century.  At  any  rate,  we  may  improve 
our  own  system  by  imitating  the  chief  features  of  that. 

It  is  twenty-one  years  since  this  was  written  by  Dr. 
Howe;  and  in  that  period  much  that  he  foreshadowed 
in  the  passage  quoted  has  been  done  in  Massa 
chusetts.  The  insane  have  been  provided  with  more 
occupation  in  the  hospitals,  and  allowed  greater  free 
dom;  while  the  Scotch  system  of  boarding  them  in 
families,  also  recommended  strongly  by  Dr.  Howe, 
has  been  put  in  practice,  though  on  a  small  scale  as 
yet.  But  it  has  already  shown  most  favorable  results, 
and  will  doubtless  be  extended  more  and  more,  as 
these  results  become  better  known.  One  of  them  is 
what  Dr.  Howe  noted  at  Gheel  in  1867,  that  these 
caretakers  of  the  insane,  and  the  community  where 
they  live,  profit  in  a  natural  and  wholesome  manner 
by  the  system.  Upon  this  and  other  points  he  said  : 

The  business  of  keeping  lunatics  has  been  the  main  source  of 
the  marked  prosperity  of  the  town  of  Gheel,  and  of  the  sur 
rounding  country.  About  four  hundred  are  employed  in  the 
town,  and  do  a  great  deal  of  the  work.  A  still  larger  number 
are  employed  in  the  surrounding  country;  and  it  is  mainly  by 
their  work,  and  help,  and  by  the  pittance  received  from  Gov- 


300  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

ernment  that  the  peasants  have  been  able  to  clear  up  waste 
land,  and  improve  their  gardens  and  houses.  It  is  by  utilizing 
the  brain  power  which  remains  to  lunatics  (and  which  we 
waste)  that  the  peasants  of  Gheel  make  the  wilderness  to  blos 
som  as  the  rose. 

At  Gheel  about  one  patient  in  fifty  is  confined  within  the 
hospital ;  in  Massachusetts,  while  all  are  so  confined  a  large 
part  of  the  time,  hardly  one-fiftieth  are  completely  free  from 
confinement,  or  from  close  supervision  at  any  time.  This 
comes  not  from  any  fault  of  the  superintendents,  but  from  the 
nature  of  the  system,  the  structure  of  the  buildings,  and  the 
condition  of  the  neighborhood.  This  is  a  matter  of  so  great 
importance  to  the  insane  that  the  whole  system  should  be 
modified  so  as  to  give  to  the  superintendents  the  means  of 
allowing  all  the  freedom  which  patients,  of  certain  classes,  can 
enjoy  with  safety  to  themselves  and  to  the  public.  If  there  is 
but  one  poor,  dazed  man  or  woman  confined  in  our  lunatic  hos 
pitals  who  pines  for  freedom,  and  who  could  enjoy  it  without 
harm  to  others,  we  ought  not  to  rest  until  it  can  be  accorded. 
But  there  are  scores  and  hundreds  so  confined;  and  we  must 
not  let  the  fact  that  it  has  always  been  so,  and,  under  our  sys 
tem,  must  be  so,  prevent  our  calling  for  remedial  measures. 

One  of  the  chief  virtues  of  the  Gheel  system  is  that  the  in 
sane  are  surrounded  by  normal  or  sane  influences,  while  under 
our  system  they  are  surrounded  by  abnormal  or  insane  influ 
ences.  The  most  powerful  of  all  influences  upon  the  sane  or 
insane  is  that  of  human  symyathy.  What  is  fabled  of  the  cha 
meleon  is  true  of  man.  The  ordinary  man  soon  takes  on  the 
moral  hue  of  those  about  him;  it  is  only  the  extraordinary  man 
who  does  not.  Under  our  system  of  treating  lunatics,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  social  influences  upon  any  one  patient  may  be 
called  abnormal,  and  only  one-tenth  are  normal  influences,  since 
the  insane  part  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives  is  as  nine  to 
one  of  the  sane.  But  under  the  colony  system,  as  practised  at 
Gheel,  a  thousand  insane  persons  are  scattered  among  more 
than  700  families,  where  the  normal  influences  are  at  least  as  five 
to  one  of  the  abnormal ;  and  as  the  lunatics  mingle  much  in  the 


THE    COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  30! 

community  at   large,  it  may  be  said  that  the  normal  or  sane 
influences  areas  ten  to   one  of  the  insane. 

In  June,  1890,  the  number  of  families  at  Gheel 
which  received  insane  inmates  had  increased  beyond 
1,000,  and  the  patients  so  placed  were  more  than 
i, 800.  The  number  of  such  patients  under  family 
care  in  Massachusetts  does  not  much  exceed  200;  but, 
among  the  hundred  families  that  receive  them,  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  by 
Dr.  Howe  in  1866-67,  are  several  whose  success  with 
their  patients  fully  justifies  all  that  he  then  said. 
Could  he  have  seen,  for  example,  the  change  for  the 
better  wrought  in  the  insane  woman  under  her  care 
by  Miss  Alice  Cook,  at  Sandwich,  in  the  past  five 
years,  Dr.  Howe  would  have  said:  "  Here  is  a  verifica 
tion  of  the  principles  I  have  formulated,  from  observ 
ing  the  natural  and  intuitive  methods  of  the  Belgian 
peasants."  This  gifted  and  energetic  woman,  aided 
by  her  mother  and  sister,  has  wrought  the  virtual 
recovery  of  several  insane  women  since  1886,  whose 
malady  was  thought  by  physicians  to  be  incurable. 
And  it  only  needs  a  class  of  women  such  as  this,  to 
accomplish  the  same  excellent  result  in  hundreds  of 
cases.  1 


1  A  rural  poet,  observing  what  has  been  done  in  this  instance,  has 
printed  some  lines  which  well  describe,  in  a  plain  way,  the  natural 
magic  of  women  who  understand  how  to  deal  with  their  demented 
and  bewildered  sisters.  He  says  : 

Her  gift  once  found,  she  made  it  much  her  care 
To  soothe  and  tame  the  wildest  creatures  there  ; 
Pleased,  they  beheld,  even  with  those  frenzied  eyes, 
Her  tender  ways — their  solace  and  surprise; 


302  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

The  principles  of  Dr.  Howe,  thus  verified  in  respect 
to  the  chronic  insane,  have  been  still  more  fruitful  in 
their  application  to  another  class  of  the  unfortunate 
— deaf  children — who  were  formerly  known  in  Amer 
ica  as  deaf-mutes,  but  many  of  whom  now  practice 
speech.  Speaking  of  the  deaf  and  blind,  and  of  the 
poor  generally,  Dr.  Howe  said  in  1866  : 

Now,  out  of  unsound  and  abnormal  conditions  there  must,  of 
course,  grow  certain  mental  and  moral  tendencies,  which,  to 
say  the  least,  are  unwholesome.  And  it  is  a  natural  conse 
quence  (though  disregarded  in  practice)  that  if  an  individual 
with  these  tendencies  lives  in  close  association  with  others  like 
himself,  all  his  peculiarities  and  tendencies  are  intensified  by 
the  intercourse.  The  greater  the  majority  of  unsound  persons 
in  his  community,  the  greater  the  intensification  of  his  abnor 
mal  tendencies.  Each  acts  upon  all ;  and  the  characteristics 
of  class,  or  caste,  are  rapidly  developed.  Nothing  is  more  con 
tagious  than  evil.  This  is  seen  in  those  who  are  gathered  in 


Her  courage  calm  when  anger,  true  or  feigned, 
Threatened  the  blow  that  her  strong  hand  restrained  ; 
Her  diligent  labor  at  each  menial  toil, 
And  her  bright  lamp  that  never  lacked  for  oil. 

The  fixed  and  haggard  look  grew  soft  and  mild 
In  those  sad  faces,  and  once  more  they  smiled; 
Slowly  their  fashions  strange  they  put  aside, 
Checked  the  loose  tongue,  the  unwonted  labor  tried  ; 
With  awkward  zeal,  and  such  as  love  alone 
Could  show  or  bear,  they  made  her  tasks  their  own. 

Each  knew  her  place,  each  found  her  happiest  hour 

In  that  brown  cottage  with  its  orchard  bower  ; 

They  plied  their  toil,  they  roamed  through  field  and  wood, 

Plucked  the  wild  berries,  fed  the  cackling  brood, 

Tilled  the  small  garden,  spread  the  ample  meal, 

Sang  their  old  songs  and  danced  to  music's  peal. 


THE   COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE   AGE.  303 

almshouses.  Before  entering,  they,  of  course,  had  become 
poor  and  broken  down;  but  they  nevertheless  had  some  individ 
uality  of  character ;  they  were  not  yet  formed  into  the  complete 
pauper  shape,  though  they  were  tending  in  that  direction.  But 
when  a  man  is  gathered  with  others  like  himself  into  a  gen 
eral  almshouse,  he  is  apt  to  lose  it  utterly.  If  his  associates 
have  also  lost  theirs,  they  act  and  react  unfavorably  upon  each 
other.  The  evils  growing  out  of  their  condition  are  all  inten 
sified  by  close  association,  and  the  pauper  spirit,  strong  as  that 
of  a  caste,  soon  becomes  the  pervading  spirit  of  the  place.  It 
is  at  once  perceptible  to  the  moral  sense  in  all  large  institutions, 
and  can  hardly  be  kept  down,  becauses  it  arises  from  morbid 
mental  and  moral  conditions. 

It  may  be  permitted  to  draw  a  further  illustration  of  the 
principle  under  consideration  from  some  persons  (neither  vicious 
nor  criminal),  the  similarity  of  whose  defect  or  infirmity  causes 
them  to  be  classed  together,  such  as  the  deaf  mutes  and  the 
blind. 

It  is  common  to  regard  these  as  forming  special  classes,  though 
speaking  strictly  no  such  classes  exist  in  nature.  The  cases 
spring  up  sporadically  among  the  people,  from  the  existence  of 
abnormal  conditions  of  parentage,  which  produce  a  pretty 
equal  average  number  of  cases  in  every  generation,  among  any 
given  population.  They  abound  more  in  some  localities  and 
some  neighborhoods  than  in  others ;  owing,  probably,  to  ill- 
assorted  marriages.  .  .  . 

The  morbid  tendencies  are  not  strong — certainly  not  irresist 
ible — at  least  with  the  blind.  They  are  educable,  like  all  ten 
dencies  and  dispositions,  and  by  skillful  management  may  be 
turned  to  advantage.  Certainly  they  ought  to  be  lessened,  not 
strengthened,  by  education.  Now  they  are  lessened,  and  their 
morbid  effects  corrected  in  each  individual,  by  intimate  inter 
course  with  persons  of  sound  and  normal  condition — that  is,  by 
general  society ;  while  they  are  strengthened  by  associating 
closely  and  persistently  wtth  others  having  the  like  infirmity. 
They,  themselves,  seem  to  have  an  instinctive  perception  of 
this,  and  the  most  delicate  of  them  feel  the  morbid  tendency 


304  DR'    S.    G.    HOWE. 

which  may  segregate  them  from  ordinary  people,  and  put  them 
in  a  special  class.  They  seem  to  cling  to  ordinary  persons,  as 
if  fearing  segregation,  and  strive  to  conform  themselves  to  their 
habits,  manners,  and  even  appearance. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  this  feeling,  especially  in  the 
blind,  arises  only  from  the  fact  that  the  blindness  and  poverty 
are  associated  together,  and  that  poverty  calls  forth  contempt, 
lightened,  in  their  case,  by  pity.  But  the  feeling  has  a  deeper 
source.  It  is  very  strong  in  those  of  delicate  and  sensitive 
natures,  and  it  ought  always  to  be  respected  and  encouraged. 
Our  principal  in  treating  them  should  be  that  of  separation  and 
diffusion. 

Guided  by  this  principle  we  should,  in  providing  for  the  in 
struction  and  training  of  these  persons,  have  the  association 
among  them  as  little  as  is  possible,  and  counteract  its  tenden 
cies  by  encouraging  association  and  intimacy  with  common 
society.  They  should  be  kept  together  no  more  closely  and 
no  longer  than  is  necessary  for  their  special  instruction  ;  and 
there  should  be  no  attempts  to  build  up  permanent  asylums 
for  them;  or  to  favor  the  establishment  of  communities  com 
posed  wholly  or  mainly  of  persons  subject  to  a  common  in 
firmity. 

This  is  far  more  important  with  the  mutes  than  with  the 
blind,  because  of  their  speechlessness.  Language,  in  its  largest 
sense,  is  the  most  important  instrument  of  thought,  feeling  and 
emotion ;  and  especially  of  social  intercourse.  Blindness,  in  so 
far  as  it  prevents  knowledge  of,  and  participation  in,  the  rudi 
mentary  part  of  language,  to  wit,  pantomine,  or  signs,  gestures, 
and  expression  of  features  and  face,  tends  to  isolation  ;  but  the 
higher  and  far  more  important  part  of  language,  speech,  is 
fully  open  to  them.  Then  their  sense  of  dependence  strength 
ens  their  social  desires ;  increases  their  knowledge  and  com 
mand  of  speech,  and  makes  that  compensate  very  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  for  ignorance  of  other  parts  of  language.  The  blind,  if 
left  to  ordinary  social  influences,  are  in  no  danger  of  isolation, 
It  is  when  we  bring  them  together  in  considerable  numbers 
that  the  tendency  to  segregation  manifests  itself ;  and  this  is 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  305 

rather  from  necessity  than  from  choice,  for  the  social  cravings 
become  more  intense  with  them  than  with  us. 

With  mutes  it  is  not  so.  Speech  is  essential  for  human  de 
velopment.  Without  it  full  social  communion  is  impossible  ; 
since  there  can  be  no  effectual  substitute  for  it.  The  rudimen 
tary  and  lower  part  of  language,  or  pantomime,  is  open  to 
mutes ;  but  the  higher  and  finer  part,  that  is,  speech,  is  forever 
closed  ;  and  any  substitute  for  it  is,  at  best  imperfect.  This 
begets  a  tendency  to  isolation  ;  which  not  being  so  effectually 
checked  during  youth,  as  it  is  with  the  blind,  by  a  sense  of  de 
pendence,  becomes  more  formidable.  To  be  mute,  therefore, 
implies  tendency  to  isolation. 

Hence  Dr.  Howe  argued  that  the  language  of 
signs  must  not  be  taught  to  the  deaf,  any  more  than 
to  the  blind,  but  that  they  should  cease  to  be  mute 
by  learning  to  articulate  ;  and  by  reading  the  lips, 
should  avoid  the  necessity  of  signs. 

This  position  taken  by  Dr.  Howe  in  respect  to  the 
education  of  deaf  children  speedily  led  to  an  improve 
ment  in  their  training  almost  as  great  as  that  which 
he  had  introduced  and  carried  forward  in  respect  to 
the  blind  between  1833  and  1844.  The  supporters  of 
what  was  in  America  the  established  method  of  deaf- 
mute  instruction,  came  forward  with  some  condescen 
sion  and  some  bitterness  to  oppose  these  fanciful 
notions,  as  they  deemed  them,  of  the  Massachusetts 
philanthropist.  In  1844,  when,  in  cooperation  with 
Horace  Mann,  Dr.  Howe  had  attempted  to  introduce 
teaching  by  articulation,  which  they  had  seen  so  suc 
cessfully  in  use  in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  the 
managers  of  the  Hartford  and  New  York  asylums  had 
been  able  to  thwart  their  efforts.  But  in  the  twenty 
years  which  had  elapsed  many  changes  had  taken 


306  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

place,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  these  old-fashioned  in 
structors  of  the  deaf,  the  people  responded  promptly 
to  the  appeals  of  Dr.  Howe  and  his  friends.  A  contro 
versy  again  took  place,  a  war  of  pamphlets  and 
newspapers,  but  the  victory  did  not  rest  with  the 
conservatives.  An  old  gentleman  in  Massachusetts, 
John  Clarke,  of  Northampton,  whose  large  property 
had  been  destined  by  him  and  his  wife  for  the  edu 
cation  of  the  deaf,  had  his  attention  called  to  this 
dispute  ;  and  he  sent  word  to  the  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  in  1866,  that  he  was  ready  to  endow  a  school 
in  Massachusetts  for  deaf  children,  so  that  it  might 
no  longer  be  necessary  to  send  them  to  Hartford,  in 
another  State.  The  Governor  communicated  this 
offer  to  the  Legislature;  an  inquiry  was  instituted  in 
1867,  and  the  legislative  committee,  in  a  long  report, 
to  which  was  annexed  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Howe 
and  others  in  favor  of  articulation,  recommended 
that  a  school  be  chartered  in  Massachusetts,  to  receive 
the  funds  of  Mr.  Clarke.  An  act  was  passed  in  the 
same  year  authorizing  this,  and  Mr.  Clarke  was  in 
duced,  probably  by  the  evidence  thus  furnished,  to 
use  the  new  school  for  teaching  articulation  to  the 
deaf.  This  was  made  practical  at  once  by  the 
appointment  of  Miss  Harriet  Rogers  (who  had  been 
teaching  articulation  for  two  years  to  a  small  school 
in  Chelmsford),  as  Principal  of  the  Clarke  School  at 
Northampton.  This  took  place  in  the  summer  of  1867, 
since  which  time  the  Clarke  Institution,  as  this  school 
is  called,  has  grown  to  more  than  a  hundred  pupils, 
and  a  school  in  Boston  almost  as  large,  and  named 
for  Horace  Mann,  also  teaches  articulation  to  day 
papils  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity.  Consequently  two- 


THE    COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE   AGE.  307 

thirds  of  the  deaf  children  of  Massachusetts  are  now 
taught  by  the  new  method,  while  less  than  a  third  of 
them  remain  in  the  school  at  Hartford.  Even  this  is 
no  longer  under  the  old  system,  but  gives  instruction 
in  articulation  to  a  considerable  number  of  its  pupils. 
Moreover,  in  New  York  and  several  other  States, 
articulating  schools  are  maintained,  and  in  most  of 
the  schools  where  the  sign  language  is  employed, 
classes  in  articulation  are  formed  ;  so  that  the  whole 
number  of  children  in  the  United  States  at  present 
learning  by  Dr.  Howe's  method  is  several  thousand. 
In  1866  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  children  were 
practicing  this  method  in  the  whole  country. 

Dr.  Howe  considered  this  subject  of  instruction  for 
the  deaf  in  several  of  his  annual  reports,  and  in  that 
for  1868  he  wrote  as  follows : 

"  Public  enlightenment  will  lead  to  the  adoption  of  a  system 
for  the  deaf  which  will  be  far  better  for  them,  since  it  will  bring 
them  into  closer  relations  with  society,  so  that  their  special 
education  shall  be  less  costly  to  the  State,  and  the  contributions 
which  they  make  to  the  common  weal,  more  abundant  than 
they  ever  have  been.  Some  mothers  will  try  to  teach  their 
born  mutelings  to  use  the  rudiments  of  speech.  Others,  whose 
children  have  become  deaf  by  disease,  will  make  them  keep  up 
the  habit  of  speaking;  and  some  of  each  class  will  succeed  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  little  ones  can  go  to  the  primary  school 
with  their  brothers  and  sisters,  and  learn  much  that  is  useful, 
especially  if  the  teacher  gives  a  little  special  attention  and  aid. 
By  the  assistance  of  an  intelligent  hearing  child,  who  should 
act  as  monitor  and  instructor  to  the  mute  child,  the  teacher 
might  give  it  preparatory  training  which  would  save  years  of 
hard  labor,  and  hundreds  of  dollars  expense,  because  it  would 
be  so  much  gained  for  its  subsequent  training  in  a  special  in 
stitution.  In  centers  of  population  large  enough  to  furnish  five 


308  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

or  six  semi-mutes,  or  mutes  adapted  to  the  simple  method  of 
articulation,  they  will  be  gathered  into  the  primary  and  gram 
mar  schools,  and  there  taught  much  that  is  useful.  The  num 
ber  required  to  be  gathered  into  central  special  institutions  and 
taught  there  will  be  very  much  lessened,  and  their  stay  in  them 
much  shortened,  because  all  who  succeed  in  articulating  and 
reading  upon  the  lips  can  go  and  learn  their  trades  just  as 
other  children  do,  among  the  common  people,  instead  of  being 
retained,  as  they  are  in  the  old  institutions,  to  work  for  years 
with  other  mutes.  In  this  way  they  will  be  all  the  time  improv 
ing  in  their  means  of  intercourse  with  the  world,  instead  of 
being  secluded  from  it,-and  confined  for  years  with  a  crowd  of 
mutes  in  the  workshops  of  a  public  institution.  Many  of  the 
small  German  establishments  for  deaf  mutes  are  in  this  respect 
greatly  superior  to  our  vast  and  showy  institutions.  This 
method  of  teachiug  the  mutes  their  trades  is  philosophical, 
simple,  and  cheap ;  and  it  favors  what  should  be  the  great  ob 
ject  in  the  education  of  any  class  of  defectives,  to  wit,  their 
separation  from  each  other,  and  their  diffusion  in  society. 

The  course  this  indicated  by  the  aged  experience 
of  this  man  of  practical  genius  has  in  fact  been  taken 
since  1868  ;  and,  although  all  that  he  anticipated  has 
not  yet  taken  place,  and  perhaps  will  not  occur  for  a 
century,  yet  the  movement  is  strongly  in  that  direc 
tion.  So  too,  with  regard  to  other  matters  of  public 
chanty  and  wise  education  ;  the  true  way  has  been 
pointed  out,  sometimes  with  a  little  exaggeration  and 
in  a  spirit  too  polemical,  but  on  the  whole,  so  that  Dr. 
Howe's  successors  in  the  same  field  find  they  must 
walk  in  it.  To  few  men  is  it  granted  to  work  such  a 
change  in  established  methods  so  swiftly, 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.    HOWE    AND    THE    CRETANS. 

WHILE  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  reorganizing 
the  public  charities,  Dr.  Howe's  services  were  again 
called  for  in  the  scene  of  his  early  adventures,  Greece 
and  the  Island  of  Crete,  which  is  not  yet  (1891),  as  it 
should  be,  a  part  of  the  restored  nation  of  the  Greeks. 
In  1829-30  the  allied  powers  of  Europe  would  not 
permit  its  annexation  to  Greece,  on  the  avowed 
ground  that  the  new  nation  might  be  too  powerful 
for  European  control  if  allowed  to  retain  this  magnifi 
cent  island.  With  all  the  valor  of  his  youth,  con 
firmed  by  the  wise  experience  of  a  lifetime,  Dr.  Howe 
now  came  forward  in  1866  as  the  champion  of  a  race 
long  and  sadly  oppressed,  engaged  in  a  death  struggle 
for  its  freedom.  A  meeting  was  held  at  Boston  in 
aid  of  the  Cretans,  January,  1867,  in  whose  proceed 
ings  Governor  Andrew,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Bishop 
Huntington  took  part.  When,  on  this  occasion,  Dr. 
Howe  rose  and  said:  "Some  forty-five  years  ago  I 
became  greatly  interested  in  the  war  for  Greek  inde 
pendence,"  a  murmur  of  astonishment  ran  through 
the  hall,  for  he  then  looked  like  a  man  still  in  the 
vigor  of  life,  and  those  who  saw  him  had  forgotten 
his  youthful  chivalry.  With  the  aid  of  this  meeting, 
and  by  personal  exertions,  Dr.  Howe  succeeded  in 
raising  funds  for  the  Cretans,  $37,000  being  sub- 

(309) 


310  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

scribed,  largely  in  Boston  and  its  neighborhood,  and 
in  March,  1867,  Dr.  Howe  for  the  last  time  sailed  for 
Europe,  designing  to  visit  the  scene  of  the  war  in 
person, and  to  use  his  own  judgment  in  distributing  the 
supplies,  as  he  had  done  forty  years  before  at  ^Egina. 
Mrs.  Howe,  who  was  his  companion  on  this  journey, 
thus  describes  it : 

I  had  already  twice  accompanied  Dr.  Howe  to  Europe,  with 
great  pleasure  and  profit.  But  I  must  speak  of  this,  our  third 
joint  expedition,  as  an  occasion  characterized  by  a  new  charm 
and  interest.  Two  dear  daughters  went  with  us,  and  height 
ened  our  enjoyment  by  their  fresh  delight  in  scenes  new  and 
strange.  To  be  the  bearer  of  aid  and  comfort  to  those  who 
contend  for  the  right,  must  ever  be  a  happy  boon.  The  doc 
tor's  heart  was  full  of  this  happiness,  and  something  of  its 
peace  and  serenity  was  shared  by  those  about  him. 

Once  arrived  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  the  welcome  and 
Godspeed  of  the  friends  of  Greece  and  of  freedom  gladdened 
him  at  every  step.  In  Liverpool,  the  heads  of  the  Greek  Com 
mittee  waited  upon  him  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival.  In  Lon 
don,  the  doors  of  the  brilliant  and  genial  Greek  society  flew 
open  to  receive  him,  and  a  glimpse  of  Eastern  warmth  and 
brightness  shone  through  the  foggy  atmosphere  of  London.  In 
Geneva,  I  remember  that  the  Cretan  Committee  seemed  to 
have  been  particularly  active,  and  that  this  bond  of  sympathy 
brought  us  into  contact  with  some  very  intelligent  and  excel 
lent  people.  Delightful  as  were  all  the  stages  of  this  journey, 
Dr.  Howe  hurried  through  them,  in  his  haste  to  reach  the 
scene  of  his  mission.  He  paused,  as  he  passed,  only  long 
enough  to  take  needful  rest,  and  reached  Athens  by  the  be 
ginning  of  June,  1867.  Lingering  a  little  by  the  way,  I  joined 
him  in  that  historic  city  some  weeks  later,  and  found  him  sur 
rounded  by  his  committee,  and  busily  at  work.  In  the  forma 
tion  of  his  plans  and  the  choice  of  his  assistants,  Dr.  Howe,  as 
usual,  followed  his  own  good  judgment,  sometimes  giving  of- 


THE    COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  31! 

fence  to  those  who  thought  their  own  better,  but  retaining 
throughout  the  confidence  and  approbation  of  those  most 
nearly  concerned  in  the  ministrations  confided  to  him.  At  the 
risk  of  his  life,  he  visited  the  island  of  Crete,  and  conferred 
with  parties  engaged  or  interested  in  the  conflict,  maintaining, 
however,  to  all  others  a  strict  incognito.  After  his  return,  a 
war  frigate  was  placed  at  his  disposal  by  the  Greek  govern 
ment,  and  in  company  with  him  we  visited  Nauplia,  and  took 
carriages  from  thence  to  Argos  and  Mycenae.  At  Argos,  I 
was  present  at  the  clisiribution  of  a  part  of  the  clothing  sent 
from  America  for  the  Cretan  women  and  children.  These  poor 
creatures,  wan  and  sad-eyed,  thronged  outside  the  door  of  the 
large  room  in  which  the  garments  were  arranged.  They  were 
allowed  to  enter  only  in  small  companies,  as  their  names,  duly 
registered  beforehand,  were  read  from  a  list.  Some  carried 
small  infants  in  their  arms,  some  were  surrounded  by  groups 
of  children.  A  papa,  or  secular  priest,  of  their  own  country 
had  them  in  charge.  Dr.  Howe  was  aided  in  these  and  other 
distributions  by  a  young  Greek  gentleman,  Mr.  Michael  Anag- 
nos,  who  afterwards  accompanied  him  to  America  and  became 
his  son-in-law  and  assistant  at  the  Blind  Asylum,  where  he  has 
been  elected  Principal  since  the  death  of  his  beloved  chief.1 

In  Athens,  and  in  many  other  places,  distributions  of  cloth 
ing  were  made.  These  garments  were  the  gifts  of  various 
sewing-circles  in  Boston  and  New  York,  and  constituted  the 
greater  part  of  their  winter's  work.  The  money  brought  from 
America  was  mostly  invested  in  biscuit,  baked  in  Athens,  and 
packed  for  transportation  in  the  loose,  baggy  trousers  worn  by 
the  Greek  peasants.  Supplies  of  food  and  clothing  were  thus 
ingeniously  combined,  and  two  of  the  blockade-runners  which 


1  Dr.  Anagnos  is  still  (1891)  at  the  head  of  the  Asylum  Avhich  his 
father-in-law  founded,  and  has  carried  it  forward  to  even  greater 
success  than  attended  it  in  the  days  of  Dr.  Howe.  He  has  now 
four  deaf  and  blind  pupils,  instead  of  Dr.  Howe's  one  (Laura 
Bridgman),  but  several  of  them  are  no  longer  dumb,  for  he  has 
taught  them  to  speak. 


312  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

did  so  much  mischief  to  American  commerce  during  our  civil 
war  now  earned  a  better  reputation  by  carrying  these  helpful 
gifts  to  the  suffering  inhabitants  of  the  desolated  island.  Dr. 
Howe  and  his  party  returned  to  America  in  the  autumn  of 
1867,  after  an  absence  of  eight  months.  He  and  his  were  still 
intent  upon  aiding  the  Cretans.  To  this  end  the  ladies  of  his 
family,  with  the  aid  of  many  others,  devoted  much  time  to  the 
organization  of  a  fancy  fair,  which  was  held  in  the  Boston 
Music  Hall  in  Easter  week,  1868,  with  the  net  result  of  some 
twenty-thousand  dollars.  Dr,  Howe  meanwhile  commenced 
the  publication  of  a  small  newspaper,  entitled  The  Cretan,  of 
which  the  object  was  to  enlighten  the  American  public 
upon  the  merits  and  antecedents  of  the  Cretan  question.  This 
publication  was  continued  during  six  months. 

After  his  return  to  America,  in  the  latter  part  of 
1867,  Dr.  Howe  prepared  and  printed  a  report1  to  the 
contributors  for  the  relief  of  the  Cretans,  from  which 
it  appears  that  the  whole  value  contributed  in  money 
and  clothing  in  New  England  and  New  York  ex 
ceeded  $50,000.  Of  this  sum  about  $25,000  was  col 
lected  in  Boston  ;  $12,364  in  New  York  ;  and  more 
than  ten  thousand  garments,  valued  at  $13,000,  were 
contributed  by  persons  in  Boston  and  other  parts  of 
New  England.  The  mode  of  distributing  these 
supplies,  like  that  adopted  by  Dr.  Howe  in  1828,  is 
noticeable  for  its  application  of  the  true  principles  of 
private  charity  ;  and  it  was  a  remarkable  coincidence 
that  much  of  this  distribution  took  place  in  1867,  at 
the  port  of  ^Egina,  where  Dr.  Howe  had  rebuilt  the 
old  Mole  forty  years  before.  Portions  of  this  report 
are  as  follows  : 

You  began  your  contributions  in  the  winter  of  1866-67,  and 
I  arrived  in  Greece  with  them  early  in  May,  the  Cretan  insur- 

1  Published  in  Boston  early  in  1868. 


THE   COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE   AGE.  313 

rection  having  broken  out  in  August,  1866.  I  immediately  pro 
ceeded  to  ascertain  by  personal  inspection  the  number,  condi 
tion,  and  wants  of  the  Cretan  refugees  in  Greece  itself.  There 
were  then  over  12,000  entirely  destitute  and  supported  by  char 
ity  ;  about  2,000  who  had  saved  enough  in  their  flight,  or  were 
able  to  earn  enough  to  support  themselves ;  and  more  were 
continually  coming.  The  largest  part  were  children  of  a  tender 
age  ;  the  rest  were  women,  and  a  few  old  men.  They  were 
living  huddled  together  in  barracks  or  other  buildings,  twenty, 
thirty,  forty  in  a  room,  sitting  or  lying  upon  the  floors,  without 
tables,  chairs,  or  bedsteads.  In  this  sad  condition,  ragged, 
hungry,  and  idle,  they  anxiously  awaited  news  from  their  hus 
bands,  fathers,  brothers,  fighting  for  their  homes  and  the  gar 
dens  which  they  themselves  had  abandoned,  but  fondly  hoped 
to  see  again. 

In  all  this  penury,  dirt,  and  suffering  the  women  looked  sad, 
but  patient  and  resigned ;  the  girls  looked  more  hopeful ;  while 
the  little  ones  were  as  merry  as  your  children.  But  they  all 
strove  to  make  the  best  of  their  sad  condition,  and,  grouping 
themselves  according  to  families,  each  one  arranged  some  tat 
tered  blankets,  or  rude  utensils,  broken  crockery,  and  scraps  of 
furniture,  in  some  nook  or  corner,  and  hung  upon  the  wall  a 
rude  cross  or  other  church  emblem,  so  as  to  make  a  faint  sem 
blance  of  their  homes,  thus  manifesting,  in  a  striking  degree, 
two  traits  of  Greek  character  which  I  have  often  mentioned — 
family  instinct  and  religious  sentiment — the  enduring  strength 
of  which  has  helped  to  preserve  the  nationality  with  such  won 
derful  purity  through  the  flood  of  invasions  and  ages  of  foreign 
domination.  Moreover,  in  spite  of  all  their  penury,  squalor,  and 
rags,  they  showed  signs  of  the  physical  beauty  and  mental 
vivacity  which  distinguish  the  Cretans  among  the  Greeks,  who 
are  acknowledged  to  be  preeminent,  physically,  among  the 
various  nationalities  of  the  East.  Fine  skins,  delicate  features 
and  limbs,  and  large  lustrous  eyes,  made  them  remarkable  even 
in  Greece.  The  photographs  of  some  of  these  groups  will  show 
that  neither  fancy  nor  partiality  made  them  appear  thus  in  my 
eyes.  The  moral  condition  of  the  refugees  was  such  as  would 


314  DR-    S.    G.    HOWE. 

be  expected  of  such  a  people  :  they  were  chaste,  sober,  frugal 
and  withal  self-respectful.  They  had  neither  the  habits  nor  the 
air  of  paupers.  There  was  a  certain  tidiness  even  in  their 
rags.  They  received  from  the  Anglo-Greek  and  other  com 
mittees  their  allowance,  averaging  $2.50  per  week  for  a  family 
of  five,  and  expended  it  almost  entirely  upon  bread  and  salt, 
using  the  balance  to  buy  a  few  sticks  of  wood  for  cooking,  or 
other  absolute  necessaries. 

The  simplest  and  the  easiest  course  for  me  would  have  been 
to  pay  over  my  funds  to  existing  committees,  and  let  them  dis 
tribute;  and  some  were  disappointed  that  I  did  not  do  so;  but 
for  what  seemed  good  reasons,  I  determined  to  make  special 
distributions,  as  far  as  possible,  under  my  personal  inspection. 
The  existing  committees  had  funds  enough  to  supply  the  refu 
gees  with  food  for  months  to  come,  but  they  could  not  provide 
for  other  wants ;  and,  besides,  they  were  restricted  in  the  use 
of  their  means  to  those  who  had  actually  left  the  Island  of 
Crete,  while  I  had  no  other  restriction  than  the  moral  obliga 
tion  to  relieve  the  suffering  non-combatants  of  Crete.  Part  of 
my  funds,  indeed,  might  have  been  applied  to  any  sufferitg  Cre 
tans,  whether  armed  or  not.  Said  one  large  contributor :  "  I 
recommend  you  to  buy  bread  with  my  money,  but  if  you  find 
that  cartridges  are  more  needed,  buy  them."  All  the  aid  the 
refugees  were  then  receiving,  from  the  foreign  committees  and 
from  the  Government,  was  their  daily  dole  of  cash ;  and  this 
barely  sufficed  to  feed  them  on  poor  and  imperfectly-cooked 
food. 

Of  course,  there  were  cases  where  the  clothing  was  hardly 
enough  to  hide  nakedness — cases  of  extreme  suffering,  arising 
from  the  sickness  or  disability  of  a  mother,  and  cases  where 
families  could  not  even  get  into  barracks  ;  but  lay  on  the  ground 
in  stables  and  out-buildings.  My  first  care  was  to  provide  for 
such  cases,  and  to  this  end  I  placed  funds  in  the  hands  of  the 
American  missionaries,  who  went  in  and  out  like  ministering 
angels  among  these  poor  people. 

The  next  step  was  to  try  to  arrest  the  demoralizing  effect  of 
idleness  by  providing  some  employment.  There  were  many 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  315 

difficulties  in  the  way.  The  people  of  the  towns  in  which  the 
Cretans  had  taken  refuge,  with  the  exception  of  the  Athenians, 
are  poor,  and  do  their  own  work.  Labor  was  not  in  demand. 
Besides,  the  Cretans  were  mostly  of  the  peasant  class.  Some 
women  knew  how  to  spin  and  to  weave ;  but  few  of  them,  and 
none  of  the  children,  could  sew  or  knit.  They  disliked  the  idea 
of  domestic  service  ;  still  more  the  idea  of  breaking  up  their  fami 
lies.  They  regarded  their  exile  as  only  temporary,  and  clung  to  the 
hope  of  a  speedy  return  to  beloved  Crete.  Their  strongest 
form  of  expression  was,  "  May  I  never  see  dear  Crete  if  I  don't 
do — thus  and  so."  "  Ah,  my  dear  babe,"  moaned  a  mother 
over  the  body  of  her  child,  "  death  is  dreadful ;  but,  alas  !  to 
die  in  a  strange  land,  and  be  buried  out  of  Crete  !  " 

These  difficulties  had  deterred  the  other  committees  from 
the  attempt  to  supply  employment ;  but  on  my  proposing  it  to 
the  American  ladies,  Miss  Baldwin,  Mrs.  Constantine,  Mrs. 
Hill,  and  Mrs.  Kalopothakis    and  Mrs.  Sakellarios,  and  Miss 
Hill,  they  undertook  it,  and  carried  it  out  beautifully.     We  got 
a  job  for  making  a  large  number  of  coarse  bags.     The  ladies 
were  supplied  with  material,  and  taking  some  of  the  most  in 
telligent  Cretan  women  to  help  them,  they  cut  it   up,  and  then 
let  it  be  known  that  all  who  could  sew  might  have  work,  and 
be  paid  fifty  leptas  x  for  each  bag  made.     The  news  spread, 
and  immediately  the  houses  of  the  ladies  were  besieged  by  ap 
plicants.     The  poor  creatures  came  from  long  distances,  under 
the  boiling  sun,  many  carrying  infants  in  their  arms,  and  waited 
patiently  hour  after  hour,  until  they  received  cloth,  needles, 
and  thread,  upon  which  they  hurried  home  and  eagerly  went 
to  work.     We  graduated  the  payment  so  that  by  working  in 
dustriously  a  woman  could  earn  a  little  more  than  the  allow 
ance  made  by  the   committee,  which    she    was  to  renounce 
while  the  work  lasted,  so  as  to  economize  the  funds.     Difficul 
ties,  however,  were  found  in  the  way  of  this.     The  women 
generally  were  very  eager  for  work,  and  the  demand  soon  ex- 


1This  would  be  from  8  to  10  cents — the  hpton  being  YIOO  of  the 
Greek  drachma. 


316  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

ceeded  the  supply.  The  poor  creatures  crowded  about  the 
depot  at  early  dawn,  and  pleaded  piteously  for  a  share  of  the 
work.  We  then  made  arrangements  to  supply  knitting-work. 
We  purchased  and  dealt  out  yarn  and  other  materials  to  all 
applicants  who  knew  how  to  knit,  and  paid  them  50  leptas  a 
pair  for  all  the  stockings  they  made  ;  the  materials  cost  about 
50  more  leptas.  We  established  a  depot  for  the  sale  of  the 
stockings,  and  pushed  them  off  upon  the  market  at  about  80 
leptas  per  pair.  This  apparent  loss  of  20  leptas  was  a  real 
gain,  as  it  made  the  means  go  so  much  farther.  Thus,  sup 
pose  the  daily  allowance  to  be  50  leptas  to  women  who  did  not 
work,  and  60  to  one  who  did,  the  first  brought  nothing  back, 
the  second  brought  a  pair  of  socks,  which  could  be  sold  for  40 
leptas  more  than  the  cost  of  material.  Thus  her  daily  cost  was 
only  20  leptas,  while  she  had  the  advantage  of  occupation,  and 
of  feeling  that  she  was  earning  something,  instead  of  entirely 
dependant  upon  charity. 

Observe  here  the  simplicity  and  effectiveness  of 
this  arrangement,  combining  frugality  with  industry, 
and  guarding  against  the  great  risk  of  all  charitable 
giving — that  it  may  pauperize  the  recipient.  The 
next  step  taken  once  more  exhibits  the  constructive 
and  political  genius  of  Dr.  Howe  in  matters  of  charity, 
which  he  certainly  understood  better  than  any  man 
of  his  period.  He  established  industrial  schools — 
perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  Athens. 

But  many  women  and  most  of  the  children  did  not  know 
how  to  knit,  or  even  to  sew  ;  and  so  we  established  work- 
schools  in  which  they  could  be  taught,  and  soon  had  in 
Athens  several  hundred  in  constant  attendance.  These  schools 
were  conducted  principally  by  the  ladies  above  mentioned, 
aided  by  intelligent  Cretans  whom  they  selected  for  assist 
ants.  The  pupils  in  these  schools  in  a  short  time  exceeded  a 
thousand,  and  they  continued  through  the  winter  of  1867-68. 
A  Greek  in  Athens,  during  that  winter,  said  that  he  thought  our 


THE    COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  317 

schools  for  these  children  were  by  far  the  most  important  work 
done  for  the  Cretan  refugees. 

Not  content  with  relieving  those  who  had  fled  from 
their  island-home,  Dr.  Howe  determined  to  visit 
Crete,  distribute  supplies  under  his  personal  direction, 
and  endeavor  thus  to  lessen  if  not  to  stop  the  exodus 
of  Cretans  from  their  country.  At  that  time  (June, 
1867)  thousands  of  families  had  been  driven  from 
their  villages  to  the  neighboring  mountains,  hoping 
soon  to  return.  The  Turkish  armies  had  not  pene 
trated  all  the  mountain  regions  ;  and  the  only  press 
ing  danger  there  was  starvation.  Dr.  Howe  says,  "  I 
myself,  while  sailing  along  the  coast,  saw  the  smoke 
going  up  from  the  Cretan  villages  by  day,  and  saw 
the  light  of  the  fires  at  night  ;  not  only  from  villages 
on  the  plains,  but  from  hamlets  in  the  mountains, 
from  shepherds'  huts  and  folds,  and  from  the  tents 
and  other  shelters  built  by  refugees  who  had  now 
abandoned  them,  and  clambered  up  higher  with  their 
children  and  goats.  Thence  they  looked  out  upon 
the  sea  for  some  blockade  runner  upon  which  they 
could  take  refuge.  If,  therefore,  means  could  be 
found  to  throw  provisions  into  the  interior  with  rea 
sonable  assurance  that  it  would  reach  hungry  women 
and  children,  it  would  lessen  the  inducement  to  leave 
the  island."  What  was  done  for  this  purpose,  though 
not  very  effectual,  was  so  romantic  in  its  incidents 
that  Dr.  Howe's  account  should  be  given.  He  says  : 

I  caused  a  large  quantity  of  coarse  nutritious  biscuit  to  be 
baked,  and  packed  in  sacks  of  thirty  pounds  each,  so  that  when 
landed  upon  the  beach  in  the  night,  as  they  would  have  to  be, 
they  could  be  carried  on  men's  shoulders  into  the  mountains. 
Fortunately,  I  found  a  man  well-fitted  to  lead  the  enterprise, 


318  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

and  who  volunteered  to  do  it — Captain  Elias  Stekoulis,  a  Greek, 
whose  character  for  courage  and  honor  had  been  well  estab 
lished  by  years  of  confidential  service  on  Garibaldi's  staff. 
Having  guarded  against  the  danger  of  the  provisions  and  gar 
ments  being  seized  by  Greek  soldiers,  the  next  step  was  to 
elude  Turkish  cruisers  on  the  water  and  Turkish  troops  on  the 
land.  On  the  night  of  June  I4th,  the  bags  were  landed  on  the 
Cretan  shore,  almost  under  the  range  of  the  guns  of  the  block 
ading  squadron  ;  and  before  daylight  they  had  all  disappeared. 
They  had  been  expected,  and  a  crowd  of  men,  with  a  few 
mules  and  donkeys,  had  come  down  from  the  mountain  for 
tresses,  and  been  waiting  for  them  upon  the  beach  since  sunset. 
The  sacks  were  immediately  laden  upon  the  animals  or  upon 
men's  shoulders,  and  carried  up  to  places  of  safety,  without  the 
loss  of  a  single  one. 

At  sunset  the  Turkish  officer  on  duty  on  the  blockading  ship, 
sweeping  the  horizon  with  his  spy-glass,  saw  nothing  but  stones 
and  sand  upon  the  beach,  and  reported,  "  All's  well !"  At  day 
light  he  looked  again,  and  saw  only  the  sand  and  stones,  and 
again  reported,  "  All's  well ! " 

There  was  a  touch  of  real  heroism,  on  this  occasion  at  least, 
in  the  conduct  of  these  simple  but  chivalrous  Cretans.  We  had 
appealed  to  their  honor,  and  they  answered  honorably.  Strong 
men,  armed,  undisciplined,  unrestrained  by  martial  or  civil  law, 
numerous  enough  to  defy  opposition,  hungering  and  not  know 
ing  where  to  find  the  next  meal,  took  this  food  upon  their 
shoulders,  and  toiled  for  miles  up  the  mountain  passes,  and 
threw  it  down  before  the  women  and  children,  and  broke  not 
their  own  fast,  nor  their  faith  !  Individual  men  have  often  imi 
tated  the  dying  Sidney's  generous  self-denial,  and  passed  un- 
tasted  the  cup  of  water  to  lips  less  parched  than  their  own,  but 
masses  of  men  rarely. 

Besides  the  distribution  at  Athens,  already 
described,  and  in  the  Island  of  Crete,  Dr.  Howe 
undertook  in  the  late  summer  of  1867  to  supply  with 
New  England  clothing  the  many  Cretans  who  had 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE  319 

taken  refuge  in  the  islands  of  ^Egina  and  Melos — 
those  being  supposed  to  stand  in  the  greatest  need. 
The  Greek  Government  gave  him  an  order  for  any 
naval  steamer  that  might  then  be  unemployed.  Their 
navy,  however,  consisted  chiefly  of  one  steam  frigate, 
two  sloops  of  war,  two  or  three  tugs,  and  sundry  old 
craft  too  dilapidated  to  float.  Dr.  Howe  thus 
described  the  expedition  : 

"  A  crazy  old  tug  was  the  only  thing  then  available,  and  upon 
this  I  embarked  with  several  boxes  of  clothing.  Mrs.  Walter 
Baker,  of  Boston,  who  was  returning  from  a  tour  in  the  East, 
happened  to  be  in  Athens  ;  and  she,  with  Miss  Mary  Baldwin, 
volunteered  to  go  with  me  and  attend  to  the  distribution.  So 
we  sailed  out  of  Port  Piraeus,  and  across  the  Gulf  of  Salamis, 
down  to  old  yEgina.  The  ancient  port  was  formed  by  project 
ing  two  vast  walls  into  the  sea,  and  approaching  the  ends 
thereof  so  nearly  that  the  narrow  opening  could  be  closed  by  a 
chain,  and  further  guarded  by  towers.  Chains  and  towers,  and 
most  of  the  superstruction,  were  gone  ;  but  the  foundations  of 
the  enormous  walls  were  still  above  the  surface,  and  made  a 
secure  haven  within.  It  had,  however,  become  much  choked 
up  with  the  soil  washed  down  from  the  hills,  and  by  rubbish 
from  the  town,  and  would  have  been  still  more  so  but  for  the 
mole  built  here  by  the  agent  of  the  American-Greek  commit- 
teesx  in  the  old  war  of  independence,  forty  years  ago.  Grateful 
to  us  it  was,  landing  upon  this  broad,  substantial  mole,  to  find 
assembled  upon  it  the  populace  of  yEgina,  many  of  whom  were 
witnesses  of  its  structure,  and  all  of  whom  regarded  it  as  a 
monument  of  the  generosity  and  of  the  practical  beneficence  of 
the  American  people. 

Near  the  town  is  a  vast  building,  erected  during  the  presi 
dency  of  Capo  d'Istria,  for  an  orphan  asylum.  It  is  an  exten 
sive  pile,  one  story  high,  built  around  a  square,  and  divided 


1  Dr.  Howe  himself. 


320  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

off  into  small  rooms.  These  had  been  stripped  of  everything 
even  the  wooden  floors.  There  were  gathered  about  1,200 
refugees,  women  and  children,  with  a  few  old  men,  and  three 
or  (our  papas  or  priests.  Like  the  other  Cretan  refugees,  they 
were  sadly  destitute  of  all  the  comforts,  and  some  of  the  nec 
essaries  of  life.  Their  allowance  from  the  committee  was  but 
forty  leptas  a  day — just  enough  for  meal  and  salt — and  a  few 
sticks  of  wood  for  cooking.  Their  garments  had  become  soiled 
and  tattered,  and  many  were  nearly  naked.  They  had  no  occu 
pation,  and  sat  with  folded  hands,  looking  out  over  the  sea  for 
some  vessel  from  Crete,  and  listening  for  news  from  their  hus 
bands  and  fathers,  then  battling  for  their  homes. 

One  large  room  had  been  set  apart  for  a  church ;  and  here 
we  opened  our  boxes,  and  sorted  out  the  garments.  Admitting 
one  family  at  a  time  at  one  door,  we  hastily  gave  to  each  per 
son  a  shirt  and  drawers  and  gown,  and  dismissed  them  for  the 
others.  It  was  a  hard  task,  for  the  poor  creatures  were  so 
eager  to  get  a  garment  of  any  kind  to  cover  their  children's 
nakedness  or  their  own,  that  they  thronged  and  choked  the 
passages.  Still  they  did  not  clamor,  or  beg  in  words.  There 
was  none  of  the  crying  out,  and  praying,  and  blessing  you,  so 
common  among  mendicants.  They  were  unpracticed  in  any 
art  of  begging.  Pressing  hunger  and  want,  and  fear  of  naked 
ness  impelled  them  to  come  and  show  their  condition.  Mothers 
mutely  held  up  their  infants  above  the  crowd,  and  pushed 
their  little  girls  before  them — but  were  still.  It  was  only  after 
they  had  clutched  some  garments  and  were  bearing  them  away, 
that  they  broke  out  into  exclamations  of  joy  and  gratitude. 

While  in  Athens,  Dr.  Howe  wrote  to  the  London 
Times  (July  17,  1867)  an  account  of  his  mission  and 
the  occasion  of  it,  somewhat  similar  to  that  which  I 
have  quoted.  In  this  he  estimated  the  refugees  in 
Greece  as  13,000,  of  whom  8,400  were  dependent  for 
support  on  the  charity  of  committees.  He  estimated 
the  refugees  in  Crete  itself  (besides  8,000  who  had 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  321 

taken  refuge  in  the  Turkish  fortified  towns),  at 
between  15,000  and  25,000.  To  a  large  number  of 
this  great  army  of  destitute  persons,  Dr.  Howe  car 
ried  or  sent  relief ;  and  this  whole  magnificent 
charity  sprung  ultimately  from  his  own  personal 
interest  in  the  Greeks  and  their  cause.  In  summing 
up  his  Boston  report  to  the  subscribers, x  he  said  : 

The  general  result  of  your  contributions  and  of  my  mission 
has  been  most  satisfactory.  You  have  fed  the  hungry  and 
clothed  the  naked  ;  indeed,  your  garments  are  now  the  only 
clothing  of  thousands  of  Cretan  women  and  children.  You 
have  established  work-schools  for  the  employment  of  women. 
You  have  opened,  and  now  maintain,  training  and  industrial 
schools  for  boys  and  girls,  which  are  still  doing  good.  By  these 
means  you  have  directly  promoted  the  cause  of  mercy,  and  in 
directly  sustained  the  cause  of  freedom.3 

The  Cretan  insurrection  of  1866-67  failed,  as  such 
movements  have  often  failed,  before  and  since  ;  but 
Dr.  Howe  never  lost  faith  that  it  would  eventually 
succeed.  When  General  Grant  became  President,  in 
1869,  Dr.  Howe  would  gladly  have  gone  to  Greece  as 

*  Among  the  four  or  five  largest  subscribers,  who  each  gave 
$500,  were  Gerrit  Smith,  of  Peterboro,  N.  Y. ,  John  M.  Forbes 
and  Martin  Brimmer,  of  Boston,  and  a  Greek  merchant  of  New 
York.  Several  persons  on  the  list  had  subscribed  forty  years  before 
to  the  fund  which  Dr.  Howe  then  raised.  f 

a  When  I  was  in  Athens  in  April,  1890,  there  were  again  in  that 
city  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of  Cretan  refugees;  and,  as  I 
write  this  note  (July  8,  1891),  I  find  in  my  latest  Athenian  news 
paper,  Le  Messager  (fAthenes,  these  remarks  :  "  Letters  from  Crete 
mention  sanguinary  conflicts  between  Turks  and  Christians.  It  is 
beyond  dispute  that  the  suppression  of  freedom  in  Crete  has  sown 
in  all  hearts  the  seeds  of  hatred,  which  will  not  fail  to  germinate  at 
the  first  opportunity."  Nothing  but  expulsion  of  the  Turks  can, 
indeed,  tranquillize  the  island. 


322  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  American  Minister  Resident,  a  position  for  which 
he  was  specially  fitted,  and  in  which  he  could  have 
done  something  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  exten 
sion  of  the  Greek  nation  ;  but  the  place  was  wanted 
by  the  politicians  at  Washington  to  pay  off  some 
political  debt,  and  so  the  appointment  never  came  to 
him.  While  in  Athens,  in  1867,  he  met  again,  after  a 
separation  of  many  years,  his  companion  of  the  Greek 
Revolution,  George  Finlay,  who  still  lived  in  Greece. 
He  found  his  old  friend  taking  an  opposite  view  to 
his  own  concerning  the  Cretan  struggle,  but  this  did 
not  prevent  a  renewal  of  their  former  comradeship. 
When  Finlay  died,  in  1875,  a  few  months  only  before 
the  death  of  Dr.  Howe,  the  latter  thus  mentioned 
him  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bird:  1 

SATURDAY,  AUGUST,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD:  I  thank  you  for  your  letters  to  Harry.2  I 
came  in  town  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  and  of  going 
to  dine  with  you,  but  find  myself  hacking  perpetually  with  a 
cold,  caught  yesterday,  and  am  not  fit  company  for  any  but 
barking  dogs.  In  most  respects  I  am  better.  Drop  me  a  line 
giving  news  of  Robinson's  health.3  The  news  of  the  death  of 
my  old,  well-beloved  friend,  George  Finlay,  in  Athens,  de 
presses  me  very  much.  I  am  now  the  only  surviving  member 
of  the  gallant  band  of  Philhellenes  who  fought  for  the  freedom 
of  Greece  in  the  darkest  days  of  her  revolution.  Almost  alone 
on  earth,  I  cling  to  you  as  one  of  very  few  who  have  known  and 
loved  poor  old  SAM'L  G.  HOWE 

(Sometime  yclept  the  Chevalier). 

1  Francis  William  Bird,  born  in  1810,  and  still  living,  has  been 
the  friend  successively  of  three  generations  of  the  leading  men  of 
Massachusetts. 

a  Henry  M.  Howe,  the  only  surviving  son,  then  just  married, 
and  setting  out  with  his  bride  to  make  the  tour  of  Europe. 

3W.  S.  Robinson,  "  Warrington." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   QUIXOTIC    SANTO    DOMINGO    EPISODE. 

PRESIDENT  GRANT,  perhaps  remembering  that  he 
had  overlooked  Dr.  Howe  in  1869,  offered  him,  in 
January,  1871,  an  appointment  as  one  of  three  com 
missioners  sent  by  him  to  visit  Santo  Domingo,  at  one 
extremity  of  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  which  is  mainly 
controlled  by  the  Haytians.  The  latter  have  given 
their  French  name  to  the  whole  island,  while  Santo 
Domingo,  the  Spanish  name,  is  applied  to  the  East 
ern  half,  which  has  long  been  independent  of  the 
Haytians.  The  Dominicans,  through  their  President, 
General  Baez,  a  colored  man  of  Spanish  descent,  had 
offered  to  annex  themselves  to  the  United  States, 
and  General  Grant  favored  the  scheme,  against  which 
the  good  sense  of  the  American  people  pronounced 
very  strongly  when  their  opinion  was  afterwards 
taken.  But,  while  the  question  was  undecided,  Sen 
ator  Wade,  of  Ohio,  with  Dr.  Howe  and  President 
White,  of  Cornell  University  were  made  a  special 
commission  to  visit  the  island  and  report  on  its  con 
dition  and  on  the  disposition  of  the  inhabitants  with 
regard  to  annexation.  The  project  was,  of  course, 
unacceptable  to  the  Haytian  Government,  and  en 
countered  the  active  opposition  of  its  representative 
at  Washington.  But  its  most  formidable  and  out 
spoken  opponent  was  Charles  Sumner,  then  and  for 


324  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

almost  twenty  years  previous  the  senior  Senator 
from  Massachusetts,  and  the  warm  personal  and  poli 
tical  friend  of  Dr.  Howe.  It  was,  no  doubt,  with  a 
view  to  make  friends  for  his  pet  scheme  in  Massachu 
setts  that  President  Grant  tendered  this  appointment 
to  Dr.  Howe,  whose  best  friends  were  opposed  to  his 
acceptance.  But  all  the  romance  and  Quixotism  of 
Howe's  nature  were  aroused  by  this  appointment  ; 
he  saw  an  opportunity  to  serve  the  colored  race,  as 
he  thought,  in  a  region  where  they  had  for  centuries 
been,  by  turns,  most  cruelly  oppressed  and  most  bar 
barously  triumphant  ;  and  he  yielded  to  the  wish  of 
the  enemies  of  Sumner. 

The  expedition  was  ill-omened  from  the  start  ;  for 
it  was  rumored  that  the  Government  steamer 
Tennessee,  on  which  the  commissioners  sailed  (along 
with  Frederick  Douglass,  H.  B.  Wheelwright,  and 
other  attaches),  was  not  seaworthy,  and  it  was  even 
reported  that  she  was  lost.1 

The  visit  of  the  commission  lasted  only  two  months 
or  less,  and  their  report  was  necessarily  quite  imper 
fect.  They  were,  however,  convinced  of  the  great 
richness  and  value  of  the  territory  owned  by  the 


1  Mrs.  Howe  says:  "Concerning  the  seaworthiness  of  this 
steamer,  many  injurious  reports  were  set  on  foot,  causing  great 
unhappiness  to  those  whose  friends  were  among  her  passengers. 
The  infrequency  of  mail  communication  between  Santo  Domingo 
and  the  United  States  made  it  impossible  to  hear  from  the  steamer 
within  a  month  from  the  time  of  her  departure.  The  writer  can 
not  forget  the  distress  suffered  by  herself  and  others  during  this 
interval,  through  those  unfounded  rumors  of  disaster  to  the  vessel 
and  all  on  board  of  her.  Nor  can  she  forget  the  warm  overflow  of 
sympathy  with  which  the  news  of  Dr.  Howe's  safe  arrival  in  Santo 
Domingo  was  received  in  Boston." 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  325 

Dominicans,  and  received  a  favorable  impression  of 
their  intelligence  and  capacity  for  moral  'and  intel 
lectual  cu-lture.  They  reported  that  the  proposed 
annexation  would  be  productive  of  benefit  to 
both  parties,  "by  affording  to  the  United  States  a 
wide  range  of  tropical  productions  now  purchased 
from  other  powers  at  great  cost,  and  by  guarantee 
ing  to  the  Dominicans  the  improvements  and 
institutions  indispensable  to  the  growth  of  their 
country."  All  that  they  saw  of  Haytian  society, 
on  the  contrary,  led  them  "  to  look  in  its 
future  for  that  intensification  of  barbarism  which 
develops  itself  in  semi-civilized  races  from  whose 
career  the  elements  of  intellectual  progress  are 
excluded."  These  views  were  shared  by  Frederick 
Douglass;  ''himself  of  mixed  blood,  and  famil 
iar  with  the  colored  people  of  the  South,  he  saw  in 
Hayti,  for  the  first  time,  a  negro  society  from  which 
the  help  and  influence  of  the  white  race  were  as  far 
as  possible  excluded."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo  would  have  intro 
duced  the  influence  of  the  white  race  once  more. 
Dr.  Howe's  opinion  in  favor  of  annexation  never 
changed  during  the  few  years  that  he  lived  after  this 
expedition.  His  report  and  that  of  his  fellow  com 
missioners  made  no  impression  on  his  countrymen  ; 
the  scheme  was  voted  down  by  a  great  majority,  and 
the  only  durable  and  important  consequence  of  the 
affair  was  the  removal  of  Senator  Sumner,  by  his 
party  associates  in  the  Senate,  from  the  position  he 
had  held  for  ten  years  of  Chairman  of  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  But  Dr.  Howe 
saw  no  occasion  to  modify  the  views  which  he  had 


326  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

expressed,  and  "  his  happy  faith  in  immutable  prin 
ciples  showed  him  for  the  Dominicans,  as  formerly 
for  the  Cretans,  a  future  of  peace  and  progress  in  the 
good  time  sure  to  come,"  as  Mrs.  Howe  says.  This 
scheme  having  failed,  another  was  set  on  foot,  and  a 
company  formed  to  obtain  a  lease  of  the  peninsula 
of  Samana,  under  favorable  conditions,  and  with 
valuable  rights  and  privileges.  Dr.  Howe  anticipated 
great  benefits  from  the  realization  of  this  project, 
and  embraced  it  so  warmly  as  to  become  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  new  enterprise,  which  was  organized 
in  the  autumn  of  1871,  as  the  Samana  Bay  Company; 
several  of  his  associates  being  those  who  had  zeal 
ously  urged  annexation  upon  President  Grant.  This 
led  him  to  make  a  second  visit  to  Santo  Domingo, 
where  he  spent  two  months  in  1873.  Capital  was 
needed  for  the  new  undertaking,  whose  design,  as 
Mrs.  Howe  says,  "was  chivalrous  and  grandiose."  It 
was,  in  fact,  quixotic  ;  and  the  doctor,  along  with 
many  other  and  more  practical  qualities,  had  the 
nobler  traits  of  that  imaginary  Spaniard,  the  typical 
Don  Quixote.  A  loan  was  needed  ;  the  Government 
of  the  little  island  republic  passed  from  the  hands  of 
Baez,  who  favored  the  Samana  Bay  Company,  into 
those  of  his  enemies  ;  capitalists  were  shy  of  a  country 
so  fickle  in  its  politics,  and  the  loan  came  to  nothing. 
While  it  was  pending,  however,  Dr.  Howe  with  his 
wife,  in  1874,  three  years  after  his  first  landing  on  the 
island,  again  made  a  brief  sojourn  in  Santo  Domingo, 
partly  to  restore  his  failing  health  and  partly  to  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  his  Company.  Mrs.  Howe  has 
thus  described  this,  his  last  of  many  expeditions  for 
the  good  of  humanity: 


THE    COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  327 

Yielding  to  urgent  solicitation,  Dr.  Howe  embarked  March 
6,  1874,  on  board  the  steamer  Tybee,  in  a  feeble  and  suffering 
condition.  At  sea,  he  soon  revived,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
voyage  appeared  to  be  in  his  usual  health.  He  landed  at  the 
capital  (Santo  Domingo),  and  was  soon  in  communication  with 
the  new  President,  Gonsales,  whose  attitude  towards  the 
Samana  Bay  Company  was  a  matter  of  some  anxiety.  Dr. 
Howe  was  accompanied  on  this  voyage  by  Colonel  Fabens  and 
Captain  Samuels  of  New  York,  the  three  being  charged  with 
negotiations  between  the  Samana  Bay  Company  and  the  new 
government.  The  change  in  the  government  was  found,  upon 
a  nearer  view,  to  have  been  the  work,  not  of  a  political  party, 
but  of  a  financial  interest.  The  merchants  of  Puerta  Plata,  an 
important  town  on  the  sea-coast,  jealous  of  the  anticipated 
growth  of  Samana,  had  subscribed  large  sums  of  money  in 
order  to  place  at  the  head  of  the  government  a  person  devoted 
to  their  interest.  Such  a  man  they  had  found  in  President 
Gonsales. 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as 
follows :  The  revolution  prevented  the  loan ;  the  failure  of  the 
loan  rendered  the  Company  unable  to  fulfill  its  engagements. 
The  new  government  took  advantage  of  this  failure,  which  it 
self  had  caused,  to  annul  all  concessions  made  by  its  predeces 
sor  in  favor  of  the  Samana  Bay  Company.  The  matter  being 
thus  at  an  end,  the  whole  party,  much  chagrined,  reembarked 
on  board  of  the  Tybee.  Dr.  Howe  and  I  were  left  at  Samana, 
where  we  took  up  our  abode  in  a  pretty  cottage  formerly  be 
longing  to  Colonel  Fabens.  The  remainder  of  the  party 
returned  to  New  York. 

Here  we  arranged  our  plans  and  occupations  to  suit  with  a 
stay  of  some  weeks,  in  a  position  of  much  isolation,  but  in  a 
region  of  surpassing  beauty  and  grandeur.  I  remember  this 
time  as  delightful  to  both  of  us.  The  Doctor  had  been  greatly 
troubled  at  the  untoward  termination  of  the  Company's  affairs, 
but  his  energetic  nature  never  yielded  long  to  any  discourage 
ment.  He  applied  himself  diligently  to  the  settlement  of  such 
claims  and  questions  as  lay  within  his  reach  and  power.  The 


328  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

beauty  of  the  surrounding-  country  tempted  him  to  frequent 
rides.  He  was  early  and  late  in  the  saddle,  and  dashed  up  and 
down  the  steep  hillsides  or  Samana  with  all  his  old  fearlessness. 
A  row  on  the  beautiful  bay  sometimes  took  the  place  of  the 
excursions  on  horseback,  in  which  I  was  not  easily  able  to  keep 
up  with  the  swift  pace  of  my  companion.  In  the  quiet  of 
noonday  he  amused  himself  with  the  adventures  of  Don  Quixote, 
which  he  read  easily  in  the  Spanish  language.  He  often  called 
me  from  my  work  to  read  me  some  favorite  scene,  which  he 
esteemed  too  entertaining  to  be  read  alone.  The  cloudless 
skies  and  transparent  waters,  the  gloom  and  grandeur  of  the 
tropical  forest,  the  quaint  and  primitive  ways  of  the  people 
who  surrounded  us — all  this  we  enjoyed  with  a  freshness  of 
delight  not  unsurpassed  by  the  enthusiasms  of  youth.  The 
time  flew  swiftly  by,  and  when  at  its  end  we  turned  our  faces 
homeward,  our  satisfaction  was  not  unmingled  with  regret. 

Before  embarking  for  Santo  Domingo,  and  again 
while  at  Samana  in  April,  1874,  Dr.  Howe  wrote  to 
his  friend  Bird  two  letters  which  are  interesting  in 
this  connection,  and  also  as  containing  his  reflections 
on  the  death  of  Charles  Sumner,  which  occurred  in 
March,  1874. 

OAK  GLEN,  S.  PORTSMOUTH,  R.  I.1 

September  i,  1873. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  The  fate  of  our  Samana  Bay  Company 
will  be  decided  at  the  monthly  meeting  on  Wednesday.  You 
have  not  studied  the  matter  much,  and  do  not  know  how 
important  for  the  cause  of  freedom  and  for  the  spread  of  our 
commercial  and  political  institutions  in  the  West  Indies  is  the 
question  whether  St.  Domingo,  "  the  key  of  the  situation," 
shall  be  possessed  by  us,  or  by  some  European  power. 

The  Company  may  now  possibly  be  taken  from  the  control 


1  This  was  the  name  of  Dr.  Howe's  country-house,  a  few  miles 
from  Newport,  where  he  often  spent  his  summers,  and  from  which 
most  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  Bird  were  written. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  329 

of  those  who  want  to  make  it  a  miserable  speculating-  concern 
to  kite  it  in  the  market,  and  then  slink  out  without  doing  any 
thing  for  the  island,— and  be  put  under  the  management  of 
wiser  and  better  men.  I  feel  bound  to  be  at  the  meeting,  even 
at  a  loss  of  the  pleasure,  and  the  failure  of  friendly  obligation, 
to  attend  your  daughter's  wedding.  God  bless  her,  and  you  ; 
and  give  you  a  large  share  of  such  happiness  as  I  have  had  in 
the  felicitous  marriage  of  three  daughters. 

Ever  Faithfully, 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE. 

SAMANA,  April  9,  1874. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  am  filled  with  sorrow  and  pain  by  the  news 
of  dear  Sumner's  death.  It  came  in  a  chance  number  of  the 
Herald,  which  merely  alluded  to  it,  as  a  thing  sometime  passed, 
and  in  mention  of  his  will.  Agassiz — Sumner, — les  Dieux 
s'en  vont  f  I  wrote  to  him  shortly  before  I  left,  beseeching  him 
to  leave  off  brain-work  and  go  to  Europe — or  better  to  Hayti — 
and  try  to  check  the  backward  progress  towards  barbarism  of 
that  interesting  but  misguided  people.  People  throughout  this 
region,  while  admitting  Sumner's  talent  and  goodness  of  heart, 
feel  that  the  greatest  opponent  of  their  freedom  and  elevation 
has  been  removed.  The  Haytians,  on  the  other  hand,  will 
mourn  the  loss  of  their  great  friend. 

The  Samana  Bay  Company  has  at  last  been  struck  down  by 
the  British  and  German  commercial  men,  who  saw  in  its  suc 
cess  the  destruction  of  their  own  trade  from  Puerto  Platte  ;  and 
by  the  influence  of  the  British  Government,  which  foresaw  in 
its  success  the  spread  of  American  ideas  and  institutions  over 
their  vast  island,  and  all  the  surrounding  ones.  The  ringer  of 
the  British  Government,  and  the  money  of  its  secret  revenue 
fund,  are  to  be  seen  plainly  in  the  late  transactions. 

I  linger  here  to  enjoy  the  delicious  climate  and  recover  my 
health.  I  am  heavier,  stronger,  hungrier,  and  more  elastic  in 
muscle  and  mind,  than  I  have  been  during  the  past  ten  years. 
For  a  week  past,  every  day  has  been  even  more  balmy  and  de- 


330  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

licious  than  our  hot  summer  days.  I  live  in  the  open  air  all 
the  time ;  for  windows  and  doors  stand  open  day  and  night. 
We  are  perched  in  an  eyrie  upon  a  promontory,  jutting  into 
this  magnificent  bay,  which  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  pic 
turesque  hills  and  mountains,  covered  with  perpetual  verdure, 
and  clad  to  the  very  tops  with  timber  and  precious  woods.  At 
the  foot  of  one  hill  is  a  little  rocky  basin,  with  a  clean  sandy 
beach,  up  which  the  breakers  roll  continuously  :  and  in  which 
I  bathe  every  day,  lying  down  in  the  surf  and  rubbing  myself 
with  the  white  sand.  It  is  a  positive  pleasure  merely  to  live 
in  and  enjoy  such  a  climate,  especially  as  we  have  none  of 
the  pests  of  our  summer  weather,  no  mosquitoes  or  flies,  no 
fleas.  The  genial  warmth  of  the  day  never  grows  into  oppres 
sive  heat ;  for  just  as  surely  as  the  sun  gets  up  toward  the 
zenith,  in  comes  the  cool  trade  wind  ;  and  at  night  the  land 
breeze  cools  off  the  air,  and  one  is  glad  to  draw  a  blanket  over 
him  after  going  to  bed. 

It  is  luxury  to  look  around  at  the  gorgeous  panorama  of 
hills  and  mountains,  of  diversified  shape,  and  covered  by  the 
richest  verdure.  Verily,  whose  eyes  have  not  seen  the  tropics, 
they  have  not  seen  the  earthly  glory  of  the  Lord.  And  then 
the  fruits  are  so  plentiful,  so  varied,  so  fresh.  Bananas,  in 
varieties  which  you  never  see,  fat  and  luscious,  and — five  for  one 
cent.  Oranges  cheaper  than  our  apples ;  pine-apples,  bigger 
than  your  head,  ten  for  a  dollar;  and  mangoes,  sapodillas, 
cayelias,  the  fruit  of  the  papina  flower ;  the  cactus  and  the 
like.  Vegetables  in  profusion  and  of  various  kinds,  sweet  and 
cheap — three  crops  of  corn  being  gathered  from  the  same  spot 
in  one  year.  Fish,  varied  and  delicious;  meats?  ah!  there 
we  fail,  for  one  can  hardly  get  a  bit  of  fresh  meat  that  one  can 
chew  up  and  swallow. 

But  the  people — the  people  ?  Well,  they  are  docile,  temper- 
ale,  courteous  in  manners,  and  rich  in  undeveloped  resources, 
like  their  island ;  but  uncultivated,  cunning,  and  untrustworthy 
in  business.  They  are,  however,  superior  in  every  respect — 
higher  by  the  whole  head — than  the  semi-barbarian  negroes 
of  Hayti,  and  superior  in  many  respects  to  the  inhabitants  of 


THE    COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  33! 

the  neighboring  islands  ,  but — but  "  better  twenty  years  of 
Boston  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay."  Dear  old  Boston  !  I  long  to 
see  you  again  as  soon  as  the  rugged  winter,  which  meets  and 
throttles  one  like  an  enemy,  is  gone,  and  I  trust  I  shall  enter 
your  streets  and  walk  over  the  stumps  of  the  Paddock  elms 
before  the  middle  of  March  ;  and  dine  with  "  the  boys  "  every 
Saturday  afternoon.1 

With  kind  regards  to  everybody,  except  B.  B.,  I  remain 
Ever  faithfully, 

S.  G.  HOWE. 

Alas  !  this  glowing  picture  of  health  and  renewed 
youth,  was  not  long  realized  after  his  return  home, 
as  the  two  letters  which  follow  will  show.  They  are 
also  noteworthy  for  the  warmth  of  affection  which 
they  display  towards  men  of  such  different  natures  as 
were  the  friends  whom  he  names.  The  final  tribute 
to  Sumner  is  very  touching  and  very  true  : 

NEWPORT,  July  27,  1874. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  hoped,  last  week,  to  be  able  to  go  to 
Boston  on  Saturday,  mainly  that  I  might  meet  and  condole  with 
you  in  your  great  sorrow ;  but  I  was  still  too  feeble.  Some 
times  the  feeling  of  sympathy  in  the  sorrows  of  others  helps 
lighten  one's  own,  or  ought  to  do  so.  There  is  my  good  friend 
Fabens,  who,  last  week,  was  stricken  down  in  sorrow  for  the 
fifth  time,  by  the  death  of  the  fifth  and  last  remaining  boy. 
Hardly  fifty  himself,  he  has  seen  five  goodly  sons,  grow  up 
to  near  manhood,  and  blossom  into  hope  of  a  goodly  life,  and 
then  successively  and  slowly  decline  and  die  before  his  afflicted 
eyes.  Fabens  I  know  to  be  a  gentleman,  pure  and  upright  in 
all  his  intents  and  actions,  quixotic  as  some  of  them  were, — and 
yet,  Sumner  had  the  misfortune  to  be  so  blinded  by  passion 

1  "  The  boys  "  were  his  friends  of  the  Bird  Club,  the  Saturday 
Club,  and  the  Massachusetts  Club — the  last  an  offshoot  of  the  first. 
All  dined  either  weekly  or  monthly  in  Boston. 


33^  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

and  prejudice  as  to  hold  him  up  to  the  contempt  of  the  country. 
I  gather  some  hope  for  the  correction  and  improvement  of  my 
own  character  when  I  see  men  so  much  higher  and  better  than 
I  am  fall  into  such  errors  as  I  am  conscious  of  in  myself. 

I  have  been  more  ill  since  you  were  here  than  ever  before, 
and  some  of  my  symptoms  seem  to  forebode  an  unfavorable 
end,  such  as  swelling  of  the  feet,  but  I  am  now  sensibly  gain 
ing  strength. 

It  may  be  I  shall  have  two  or  three  years  more  of  power  of 
work  ;  but  it  is  doubtful,  and  I  abide  my  summons  for  depart 
ure.  I  hope,  my  dear  Bird,  that  I  may  yet  have  opportunity  of 
communion  of  spirit  with  you. 

With  kind  regards  to  your  family,  ever  faithfully, 

SAM'L  G.  HOWE. 

OAK  GLEN,  August  12,  1874. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  If  you,  or  any  of  yours,  have  been  victims 
of  chronic  rheumatism  or  neuralgia,  you  will  understand  how 
the  pain  and  malaise  utterly  paralyze  one's  volition,  and  how 
one  can  put  off,  from  day  to  day,  and  from  week  to  week,  duties 
and  even  inclination.  My  suffering  has  been  almost  constant 
during  about  two  months ;  so  that,  although  able  to  get  into 
the  saddle  and  ride  about,  I  have  shrunk  from  performance  of 
duties,  such  agreeable  ones  even  as  writing  to  dear  friends. 
Hence,  my  silence  on  the  one  subject  near  my  heart,  to  wit,  my 
sympathy  and  interest  in  you  and  your  affairs.  Two  days  ago, 
I  suddenly  felt  a  relief  such  as  one  who  had  been  pinched  and 
screwed  up  in  iron  armor  until  his  joints  were  stiff  and  all  his 
bones  aching,  would  feel  by  having  the  inflexible  armor  ex 
changed  for  a  silken  vestment.  This  is  the  third  day  of  my 
relief,  and  I  begin  to  hope  that  the  disease  has  left  no  seeds  in 
my  system  which  will  sprout  again. 

Glad,  indeed,  I  am  that  you  are  to  be  so  near  us,1  and  hopeful 
of  your  presence  under  our  roof.  It  would  be  very  imprudent 


At  Narragansett  Pier,  in  Rhode  Island. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  333 

for  me  to  go  in  the  boat,  and  I  would  not  do  it  for  any  money  ( 
although  I  would  do  it  if  it  were  the  only  way  to  see  you.  After 
to-day  we  shall  have  plenty  of  spare  room,  and  would  welcome 
you  and  any  of  your  family.  Mrs.  Howe  will  be  away  to-mor 
row,  but  home  again  on  Friday. 

I  rejoice  to  hear  of  dear,  good  Wilson  being  better.  Must 
he  not  sometimes  feel  as  a  man  whose  skin  has  been  inflated 
with  wind  until  he  soared  over  people,  and  might  fear  lest  some 
accident  or  rupture  would  let  the  wind  out  and  himself  down  ? 
"  Ah,  my  son,"  said  Oxenstiern,  "  you  do  not  understand  with 
how  little  wisdom  the  world  may  be  governed  !  " 

I  note,  in  silence  and  sadness,  what  you  say  about  my  ventur 
ing  a  criticism  upon  one  of  the  public  acts  of  my  dearly-beloved 
Charlie.1  Would  I  were  worthy  of  the  affection  which  he  ac 
corded  to  me  during  so  many  years  of  an  intimacy  as  great  as 
between  brothers,  and  greater  than  between  ordinary  brothers. 
Oh  !  the  times  when  we  walked  or  drove  daily  together,  spent 
our  evenings  together,  and,  finally,  retiring  to  our  chambers, 
with  a  door  open  between  them,  talked  and  communed  about 
matters  great  or  small  until  one  dropped  asleep  with  the  music 
of  the  other's  voice,  subsiding  from  audible  words  into  the 
music  of  dreams  !  Dear  Charlie  !  the  hope  of  renewed  youth 
ful  intercourse  makes  immortality  all  the  more  desirable ;  al 
though  by  no  immortal  spirit  can  chaster,  purer,  nobler  senti 
ments  be  expressed  than  were  expressed  by  thy  mortal  lips ! 
Never  an  impure  word,  never  a  selfish  wish,  never  a  dishonest 
purpose !  Faithfully,  SAM'L  G.  HOWE. 

There  was  quixotism  in  the  enthusiasm  of  Howe 
(or  the  impossible  in  Santo  Domingo  ;  there  was 
quixotism  of  another  sort  in  the  separation  of  Sum- 
ner  from  his  party  associates  under  the  administration 
of  Grant.  But  how  rare  and  noble  the  quixotism  of 
such  men  was,  may  be  seen  by  the  whole  tenor  of 


1  Charles  Sumner.     The  Wilson  mentioned  just  above  wasSum- 
ner's  Senatorial  colleague  Henry  Wilson,  then  Vice-President. 


334  DR-  s-  G-  HOWE. 

their  useful  lives.1  Their  trusted  friend,  knows  to 
them  and  to  thousands  who  have  loved  him  as 
"  Frank  Bird,"  speaking  of  them  and  of  their  three  asso 
ciates,  Horace  Mann,  John  A.  Andrew  and  Theodore 
Parker,  said  at  Dr.  Howe's  funeral: 

Mann,  Parker,  Andrew,  Sumner,  Howe !  When  has  been 
granted  to  one  generation  the  inspiration  of  five  such  men  ? 
To  the  age  which  they  lighted  up  and  led,  each  has  left  an  im 
perishable  record  "  of  noble  ends  by  noble  means  attained." 
To  us  who  knew  and  loved  them,  they  have  left  precious  mem 
ories  and  immortal  hopes. 


1  Mrs.  Howe,  speaking  of  the  years  1845-50,  says  :  "  A  satirical 
production  of  those  days  presented  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Sumner  in 
the  light  of  two  knights-errant  of  philanthropy,  constantly  on  the 
lookout  for  some  human  right  to  vindicate,  some  injury  to  redress. 
Fortunate  was  it  for  the  community  that  it  possessed  two  such  brave 
and  disinterested  champions  of  ideal  and  practical  justice." 


CHAPTER  V. 

AGE,    INFIRMITY,    AND    DEATH.         .     j 

IN  the  summer  of  1874  Dr.  Howe  was  closing  his 
73d  year.  It  was  45  years  since  he  had  enjoyed  the 
vigorous  health  of  his  Grecian  campaign — for  his 
Corinthian  fever  never  wholly  left  him,  and  gave 
him  many  days  and  nights  of  suffering  during  his 
whole  public  career.  But  his  constitution  had  been 
firm,  his  habits  always  good,  and  his  care  of  his  own 
health  more  judicious  than  most  medical  men  bestow 
when  they  are  their  own  patients.  Now,  however, 
age  had  come  upon  him,  with  the  labor  and  sorrow 
which  Scripture  has  foretold  to  those  who  live 
beyond  the  allotted  years  of  three  score  and  ten. 
The  remaining  correspondence  of  Dr.  Howe  with  Mr. 
Bird  is  pathetic,  but  full  of  interest  ;  and  nothing 
that  he  has  written  throws  more  light  on  the 
character  and  the  affections  of  our  hero.  The  first 
in  date  is  the  letter  written  upon  the  first  news  of 
young  Mr.  Bird's  death  : 

OAK  GLEN,  July  12,  1874, 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  We  were  all  greatly  shocked  by  the  sad 
news  of  your  poor  boy's  death.  We  have  sorrowed  with  you 
and  for  you,  and  continue  to  feel  deep  sympathy  in  your  afflic 
tion.  Greater  sorrow  is  not  given  man  to  suffer  than  that  for 
the  untimely  death  of  a  child  ;  and  the  death  of  a  son  is  probably 
more  keenly  felt  by  us  fathers  than  any  other.  Up  to  this  day, 

(335) 


336  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  death  of  my  youngest  boy,1  my  best  beloved  child,  conies 
over  me  like  a  fresh  pang  ;  and  I  go  away  and  weep  alone.  I 
well  know,  therefore,  the  keen  pangs  which  you  must  now  be 
suffering.  Time  will  soften,  but  never  entirely  remove  them. 
Oh !  for  the  soothing  and  blessed  hope  of  reunion  beyond  the 
the  grave  !  Why  cannot  we  two  mourning  fathers  enjoy  it  in 
full  faith  and  assurance,  without  the  damning  doubt  ?  I  vainly 
hope  against  hope  ;  and  cling  desperately  to  the  best  reason  in 
favor  of  immortality,  to  wit,  the  existence  within  us  all  of  this 
pleasing  hope,  this  striving,  this  longing  after  immortality.  Can 
God  have  created  it  within  our  hearts  merely  to  cheat  and  dis 
appoint  us  ?  No  !  Let  us  then  hope  for  a  reunion  of  the  loved 
and  lost  ones. 

I  struggle  on  against  the  insidious  disease  which  seems  to 
have  become  chronic  in  my  system  at  a  period  when  the  re 
cuperative  power  is  nearly  exhausted.  My  hope  is  that  this 
three  months'  storm  will  have  exhausted  its  viperous  force  be 
fore  the  season  of  summer  is  entirely  over. 

Give  to  your  wife  and  family  the  assurance  of  the  sympathy 
of  me  and  of  my  family  ;  and  trust  that  I  am  and  shall  be  faith 
fully  and  affectionately, 

Your  friend, 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE. 

P.  S. — Monday  noon — I  have  this  moment  received  your  sad 
note. 

During  this  summer  of  1874,  Dr.  Howe  was  still 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  State  Charities,  in  which 
office  I  succeeded  him,  the  next  October.'2  The  visit 


JBorn  in  South  Boston  and  named  for  his  father — known  to 
Theodore  Parker  therefore  as  "  Sammy  South  Boston."  j 

2  A  year  before  Dr.  Howe  resigned  the  chairmanship  of  this 
Board  he  had  placed  his  resignation  in  my  hands;  to  be  sent  to  the 
Governor,  if  I  thought  best.  In  the  note  accompanying  this, 
elated  Newport,  Sept.  25,  1873,  he  said  : 

MY  DEAR  SANBORN  :  I  inclose  a  letter  to  the  Governor,  to  be 


THE   COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE   AGE.  337 

to  the  great  State  almshouse,  mentioned  in  the  fol 
lowing  letter,  was  that  important  one  which  led  to 
the  investigation  and  subsequent  exposure  by  the 
colleagues  of  Dr.  Howe,  in  1876,  soon  after  his  death, 
of  serious  evils  in  the  care  of  the  sick  and  insane, 
and  the  general  management  of  that  almshouse.  The 
last  motion  offered  by  Dr.  Howe  as  a  member  of  the 
Board,  in  April,  1875,  was  in  favor  of  such  an  investi 
gation. 

OAK  GLEN,  Friday,  August  21,  1874. 
MY  DEAR  BIRD  .  I  am  disappointed  in  my  hope  of  your 
presence  here,  or  of  at  least  a  letter  from  you.  I  went  up  to 
Boston  on  Monday  last  intending  to  accompany  the  Board  of 
Charities  upon  its  visit  of  inspection  of  Tewksbury  Alms 
House  on  Wednesday ;  but  found  myself  too  feeble  to  go.  I 
returned  here  yesterday,  rather  better  than  worse  for  the  jour 
ney.  Verily  old  age  diminishes  greatly  the  recuperative  power ; 
and  there  are  certain  disorders,  which,  as  Dr.  Bigelow  says, 
old  persons  have  no  business  to  have.  Oh  !  how  little  do  we 
appreciate  the  advantage,  the  beauty,  the  happiness-giving  of 


used  when  and  as  you  decide,  I  reluct  at  the  last  moment  at  giving 
up  the  chance  of  being  useful  in  reconstructing  the  Board,  and 
giving  to  it  the  power  and  dignity  which  it  ought  to  enjoy.  X's 
resignation  opens  the  door  of  hope  to  having  one  with  whom  I 
could  work  more  sympathetically.  Another  event  makes  more 
necessary  the  help  of  men  who  will  work  openly,  ami  frankly,  irre 
spective  of  party  influence.  Confiding  in  your  earnest  and  disin 
terested  care  for  the  efficiency  of  the  Board,  and  the  welfare  of 
those  wards  whom  it  is  a  duty  to  watch  over,  I  leave  the  matter  in 
your  hands.  I  do  not  propose  to  attend  the  next  meeting,  unless  a 
telegram  or  letter  from  you  should  summon  me. 

Faithfully,  SAMUEL  G.   HOWE. 

I  did  not  think  it  needful  to  send  this  resignation  to  Governor 
Washburn,  and  Dr.  Howe  continued  at  the  head  of  the  Board  (of 
which  I  was  then  Acting  Secretary)  for  a  year  longer.  F.  B.  S. 


338  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

the  capacity  for  work  !  While  we  possess  it  we  are  more  apt 
to  complain  of  fatigue  than  to  rejoice  in  the  possession  of  the 
power.  Fatigue!  fatigue  is  not  the  natural  result  of  work; 
but  the  punishment  of  the  sin  of  overwork.  Everyone  who 
feels  the  pain,  the  discomfort  of  fatigue,  expiates  thereby,  or 
suffers  the  consequence  of  his  sin.  The  normal  consequences 
of  normal  work  are  a  pleasant  feeling  of  well-being,  and  a  posi 
tive  increase  of  bodily  ease  and  of  happiness. 

I  am  not  going  to  moralize,  however,  but  to  ask  you  to  send 
me  a  prescription  for  and  description  of  the  means  of  exter 
minating  house-flies  ;  or,  rather,  keeping  their  number  down  to  a 
supportable  degree.  A  fly  has  a  right  to  a  certain  degree  of 
hospitality  ;  but  he  has  no  right  to  light  upon  my  nose,  to  tickle 
my  skin,  to  soil  my  wall  paper  and  furniture,  nor  to  poison  my 
food  with  his  excrement.  I  believe  that  positive  disease  is  en 
gendered,  or  at  least  aggravated,  by  the  amount  of  fly  excre 
ment  which  men  swallow. 

Do,  in  mercy,  send  me  the  remedy.  I  would  fain  treat  an 
individual  fly  as  did  my  Uncle  Toby  the  overgrown  one  "which 
had  buzzed  about  his  nose  and  tormented  him  unmerci 
fully  all  dinner-time."  I  would,  like  him,  catch  the  insect  in 
hand,  go  to  the  window,  let  him  escape,  and  say,  "  Go,  poor 
devil.  I  will  not  harm  a  hair  of  thy  head  ;  the  world  is  wide 
enough  for  thee  and  me  ; "  but,  zounds !  a  hundred  thousand 
poor  devils  become  a  nuisance,  a  pest,  a  source  of  dirt,  and 
nastiness,  and  disease.  Send  me  the  remedy  !  or,  better  still, 
bring  it. 

Mrs.  Anagnos  will  return  to  the  Institution  to-morrow,  and  I 
wish  much  that  you  facilitate  and  promote  the  intercourse  be 
tween  your  daughter  and  her.  ...  I  want  to  increase 
her  relations  with  good  people.  She  is  rather  shy ;  but  I  know 
that  she  has  great  regard  for  your  daughter ;  a  sort  of  inheri 
tance  of  my  weakness  for  you. 

All  send  regards,  and  our  love,  and  he  is  as  ever,  yours, 

SAM'L  G.  HOWE. 

I  expect  to  go  to  Boston  September  5th,  and  to  remain  until 
Saturday,  P.  M.,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  with  the  Club. 


THE    COUNSELS   OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  339 

OAK  GLEN,  July  2,  1875. 

My  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  was  grieved  to  hear  from  some  one  that 
you  complained  about  my  not  having  called  upon  you  during  the 
three  days  I  was  in  Boston.  My  clear  old  boy  !  I  was  unable  ; 
and  not  free  from  pain  in  all  the  time.  And,  besides,  where 
find  you  ?  I  wanted  enough  to  find  time  and  means  to  get  at 
you ;  but,  you  know  that  pain  and  illness  deprive  one  of  half 
one's  powers. 

I  have  been  quite  ill  here  most  of  the  time  ;  but  am  free  from 
pain  to-day :  aud  rejoicing  in  the  company  of  dear  Maud.  I 
have  fearful  and  useful  teachings  of  the  ill-effects  of  this 
woman's  movement  and  concern  in  public  affairs  upon  domes 
tic  duties,  relations,  and  affections.  Horace  (Mann)  would  not 
have  had  it  so ;  neither  would  dear  Theodore  (Parker)  ;  neither 
would  Charles  (Sumner).  It  was  our  rare  good  fortune  to  know 
and  love  them  all.  Horace  appreciated  you  more  thoroughly 
than  did  Theodore,  who  was  more  taken  up  with  general  prin 
ciples  and  public  interests  than  with  individual  affections. 
Rarely  indeed  do  really  great  men  take  deep  interest  in  the 
relations  between  individuals,  and  in  the  moral  affections ;  but 
Horace  did 

I  hope  you  will  see  Mrs.  Howe,  who  is  in  Boston,  and  who 
esteems  you  very  highly.  I  shall  probably  be  in  Boston  the 
latter  part  of  next  week,  and  if  I  do  not  see  you  it  will  be 
because  there  is  no  Parker's. 

The  time  for  my  dear  son's  departure  for  Europe  draws  nigh, 
and  I  feel  anxious  about  it. 

Let  me  hear  from  you,  and  believe  me  to  be  ever  faithfully 
and  affectionately  your  friend. 

S.  G.  HOWE. 

P.  S. — What  do  you  think  of  the  plan  of  my  bringing  an 
action  in  a  U.  S.  Court  against  the  city  of  Boston  for  recover 
ing  of  some  five  or  six  thousand  dollars  paid  under  protest,  for 
taxes  on  Mrs.  Howe's  personal  property,  already  and  fully  paid 
in  the  city  of  New  York  ? 


34°  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

OAK  GLEN,  near  Newport,  July  20,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  am  slowly  recovering,  I  trust,  from  the 
severest  malady  which  I  have  suffered  for  a  score  or  two  of 
years,  I  was  at  one  time  much  depressed  by  the  belief  that  I 
had  Bright's  disease.  Chloral  did  me  more  harm  than  good. 
I  tried  morphia,  etc.  At  last,  under  advice  of  Dr.  Francis,  I 
left  off  medicine  and  all  food  or  drink  except  pure  fresh  milk, 
under  which  my  bad  symptoms  subsided,  I  got  relief  from 
pain  and  am  mending.  It  was,  however,  terribly  and  painfully 
depressing  to  my  moral  nature.  Mrs.  H.  proved  a  devoted  nurse 
and  tender  wife,  and  displayed  patience,  watchfulness,  and 
kindness.  It  was  very  dark,  dear  Bird,  during  a  week  and 
more.  I  saw  no  light  or  hope  for  this  world,  and  was  uneasy 
and  unhappy  about  the  next.  Oh !  how  I  wished  for  your 
soothing  society  !  Friends  came  and  wrote,  and  there  was  no 
lack  of  sympathy.  I  trust  that  the  worst  is  over,  and  that  with 
my  quart  of  fresh  milk  daily,  I  may  yet  live  for  some  useful 
ness. 

I  hear  nothing  from  you  or  of  your  circle,  I  suppose  you 
are  scattered.  I  have  my  dear  Maud  with  me,  and  Mrs.  Flossy 
Hall  1  and  her  two  children.  My  place  has  improved  very 
much  ;  it  is  now  lovely  to  look  upon,  and  very  enjoyable.  I 
wish  earnestly  that  you  could  come  and  stay  some  days  with 
your  old  and  fast  friend, 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE. 

Mr.  Bird  accepted  this  invitation,  and  found  Dr. 
Howe  indeed  very  wretched,  and  seeking  relief  in  that 
which  distressed  all  about  him,  groans  and  exclama 
tions.  His  friend  soothed  him  and  yet  did  not  fail 
to  remonstrate  with  him  for  what  seemed  an  unmanly 
act,  all  the  more  painful  in  one  so  courageous  as  Dr. 
Howe. 

In  life's  last  scene  what  prodigies  surprise, 
Fears  of  the  brave  and  follies  of  the  wise  !          •  - 


1Daughter  of  Dr.  Howe. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE    AGE.  34! 

But  the  next  letter  shows  how  well  the  kindly  re 
proof  was  taken  : 

OAK  GLEN,  August  6,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  hear,  through  Friend  Earle,1  that  you 
are  looking  fresh  and  well.  I  have  profited  much  by  the  pre 
cepts  which  you  gave  me,  and  the  living  example  which  you 
set  me. 

The  effort  to  suppress  groaning  is  partly  successful.  I  am 
much  better  than  when  you  were  here.  The  trouble  has  sub 
sided,  and  returns  only  after  some  indiscretion  of  diet  or  taking 
cold,  when  I  have  to  expect  sleepless  nights.  I  have  taken  to 
milk,  upon  which  I  improved  so  much  that  my  doctor  sent  me 
word  to  take  half-raw,  red,  and  bloody  beef,  or  something  of 
the  kind.  He  began  to  surmise  that  I  might  get  entirely  well 
on  the  lacteal  fluid. 

My  dear  Harry  will  sail  from  Boston  for  Great  Britain  on  the 
I2th  of  August.  Try  to  see  him,  and  give  to  him  and  to  his 
wife  some  wise,  fatherly  talk.  He  can  be  heard  of  at  No.  20 
Bromfield  street ;  if  you  cannot  call  to  see  him,  leave  a  note  for 
him,  bidding  him  to  go  to  see  you.  If  you  can  get  any  letters 
for  him,  or  will  put  me  in  the  way  of  doing  it,  it  will  be  a  very 
great  service.  Do  you  know  our  Minister  or  Consul  at  Lon 
don,  Paris,  or  Berlin,  or  Vienna  well  enough  to  introduce  the 
pair? 

I  hope  to  meet  you  the  next  time  I  go  to  Boston  ;  meanwhile 
I  hope  and  trust  you  may  go  on  improving  in  health. 

With  best  regards  to  your  faithful  and  useful  daughter, 

Faithfully,  S.  G.  HOWE. 

In  the  letter  following  this  in  date  (printed  on  a 
previous  page)  he  speaks  of  the  depression  following 
the  news  of  George  Finlay's  death,  says  he  is  the 
last  survivor  of  the  Philhellenes,  and  signs  himself 


1  Edward  Earle,  of  Worcester,  a  good  Quaker,  and  a  colleague 
of  Dr.  Howe  in  the  Board  of  Charities. 


342  1>R-  s.  G.  HOWE. 

"sometime  yclept  the  Chevalier,"  alluding  to  his 
membership  in  the  Greek  Legion  of  Honor.  But 
now  comes  the  last  letter,  written  but  four  weeks  be 
fore  his  death. 

SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  11,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  BIRD  :  I  am  alive,  but  in  a  deplorable  state  on 
account  of  following  your  earnest  and  repeated  advice,  and 
taking  a  dose  of  Chloral,  which  nearly  killed  me.  I  took  it 
very  reluctantly  last  night,  and  it  came  near  bringing  me  to  an 
end  before  nine  o'clock  this  morning.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you 
all  about  it.  I  can  only  say,  beware  of  advising  old  and  feeble 
persons  to  take  such  a  potent  and  variable  dosing  as  Chloral.  It 
is  potently  medicinal,  but  liable  to  be  poisonous  and  speedy  and 
fatal  in  its  operations.  Nothing  but  your  presence  will  ever 
get  any  more  of  it  down  the  throat  of  your  old  and  affectionate 
friend,  S.  G.  HOWE. 

Of  these  last  weeks  Mrs.  Howe  says  : 

He  returned  from  Newport  to  Boston  before  the  first  of  Octo 
ber,  1875,  and  seemed  at  first  to  have  benefited  by  the  change. 
He  walked  as  usual  between  his  own  house  and  the  Blind  Asy 
lum,  and,  with  the  aid  of  his  carriage,  visited  the  Idiot  School. 
But  he  felt,  and  we  felt,  that  a  change  was  drawing  nigh.  On 
Christmas  Day,  he  was  able  to  dine  with  his  family,  and  to 
converse  with  one  or  two  invited  guests.  But,  on  the  first  of 
January,  he  remarked  that  he  should  not  live  through  the 
month.  This  presentiment,  though  not  at  the  time  regarded 
by  those  to  whom  he  mentioned  it,  did  not  deceive  him.  On 
January  4th,  while  up  and  about  as  usual,  he  was  attacked  by 
sudden  and  severe  convulsions,  followed  by  insensibility  ;  and 
on  January  9,  1876,  he  breathed  his  last,  surrounded  by  his 
family,  and  without  pain  or  apparent  consciousness. 

I  had  seen  him  often  during  this  long  illness,  had 
visited  him  at  Oak  Glen,  and  played  whist  with  him 
to  while  awtiy  the  hours  of  pain  and  uneasiness. 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  343 

Upon  the  first  news  of  his  apoplectic  attack,  I  has 
tened  to  South  Boston,  and  to  his  bedside,  but  alas  ! 
he  was  unconscious.  As  he' lay  there,  free  from  pain 
and  flushed  slightly  with  the  fever  of  his  disease,  I 
was  struck  with  his  resemblance  to  our  heroic  friend, 
John  Brown, — the  same  resolute  and  tender  cast  of 
features,  the  same  firm  nose,  white  beard,  and  gray 
locks.  He  was  indeed  of  a  like  temper,  though  so 
different  in  training,  in  versatility  and  fortune.  Mr. 
Bird  has  a  tenderer  reminescence  of  his  final  inter 
view  with  this  comrade  of  many  years.  He  says  : 

At  my  last  visit  to  him,  two  days  before  he  was  struck  down, 
I  found  him  in  extreme  suffering.  Soon  after  I  went  in,  he 
said  with  great  gravity  and  emphasis,  "  I  shall  not  live  to  the 
end  of  this  month."  I  laughed  it  away  ;  but  yet,  may  it  not 
have  been  one  of  those  mysterious  shadows  which  coming 
events  sometimes  surely  cast  before  ?  During  the  interview, 
he  charged  me  with  most  affectionate  messages  to  my  family, 
repeating  them  as  though  under  the  same  premonition.  As  I 
rose  to  leave,  he  followed  me  into  the  hall,  threw  his  arm 
around  my  neck,  and  with  a  beautiful  smile  said,  "  My  dear  old 
fellow,  let  me  kiss  you,"  and  gave  me  a  warm  kiss.  Within 
two  days  the  thick  curtain  fell. 

The  news  of  Dr.  Howe's  death  was  received  by  the 
whole  community  with  sincere  sorrow.  The  Gover 
nor  of  Massachusetts  communicated  it  to  the  Legis 
lature,  then  in  session,  which  passed  appropriate 
votes  commemorating  his  services  to  the  State  ;  and 
the  same  Chief-Magistrate  (Governor  Rice)  presided 
at  the  memorial  meeting  in  his  honor,  held  at  the 
Music  Hall,  in  Boston,  February  8,  1876.  A  former 
Governor  (A.  H.  Bullock)  in  an  address  at  this 
meeting  well  described  Dr.  Howe's  public  character 
in  these  words  : 


344  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

It  would  be  an  omission  in  my  memory  of  an  official  con 
nection  with  him,  extended  over  three  years,  if  I  were  not 
to  bear  my  testimony  to  his  almost  ubiquitous  attendance 
on  his  work.  He  was  at  South  Boston,  he  was  at  his  office 
in  town,  he  was  at  the  rooms  of  the  Board  of  Charities,  he 
was  at  the  Executive  Chamber,  he  was  sometimes  at  his  own 
house,  he  was  always  where  duty  called.  He  seemed  capa 
ble  to  drive  all  the  reforms  and  charities  abreast  ;  and  yet 
he  was  seldom  on  a  strain ;  always  having  an  air  we  all 
liked  of  a  man  of  business,  of  a  man  of  the  world,  what 
Carlyle  would  call  "  a  good,  broad,  buffeting  way  of  proce 
dure  " ;  of  dauntless  force  of  character,  of  firmness  that  was 
impassive,  of  modesty  that  was  unfeigned;  a  little  mutinous 
whenever  governors  attempted  to  interfere  with  his  methods, 
but  that  was  of  no  consequence,  since  he  was  mutinous  to  re 
volt  whenever  he  saw  the  image  of  God  oppressed,  or 
wronged,  or  neglected.  Nor  will  I  leave  him  without  an  al 
lusion  to  his  last  great  work.  I  refer  to  his  association  with 
a  few  other  gentlemen,  more  active  in  this  than  he  was,  whose 
names  I  might  call  if  some  of  them  were  not  present,  in  or 
ganizing,  I  may  say  in  establishing,  under  the  endowment 
of  Clarke,  that  noble  institution  on  the  banks  of  the  Connec 
ticut,  where  the  deaf,  no  longer  dumb,  learn  to  discern  a 
voice  from  a  mute  breath,  to  catch  human  language  at  sight 
from  human  lips.  I  look  to  that  Institution  with  perfect  as 
surance  of  the  greatest  results,  and  I  recur  not  Avithout  sensi 
bility  to  the  days  when  we  thought  him  essential  to  us  in 
laying  its  foundations. 

Of  his  friendships,  and  of  those  rarest  qualities  that 
attracted  friends  to  his  side,  as  the  loadstone  draws 
the  metal,  Mr.  Bird  said  on  the  same  occasion  : 

Dr.  Howe's  circle  of  acquaintances  was  very  large.  For  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  his  quiet  back  office  in  Bromfield 
street  was  the  resort  not  only  of  sufferers  and  the  friends  of 
sufferers  from  "  every  ill  that  flesh  is  heir  to,"  but  of  the  noble 


THE    COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  345 

men  and  women  of  Massachusetts  and  the  world.  There  were 
originated,  discussed,  and  put  into  the  way  of  execution  most 
of  the  philanthropic  enterprises  that  had  for  their  object  the 
amelioration  of  the  woes  or  redress  of  the  wrongs  of  humanity. 
Of  friends  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  to  whom  he  gave  his 
full  trust  and  confidence,  he  had,  I  think,  but  few. 

"  But  those  he  had,  and  their  adoption  tried, 
He  grappled  to  his  soul  with  hooks  of  steel." 

And  all  such,  the  longer  they  knew  him,  were  more  and  more 
impressed  with  his  fidelity  to  convictions  of  truth  and  duty,  his 
single-hearted  consecration  to  the  welfare  of  others,  and  his 
rare  self-forgetfulness — I  do  not  mean  unselfishness  merely,  but 
an  entire  unconsciousness  of  any  special  services  he  had  ren 
dered  or  could  render  to  the  world.  I  never  knew  him  volun 
tarily  to  relate  any  of  the  heroic  or  benevolent  deeds  of  his  life. 
During  his  periods  of  suffering,  I  sometimes  tried  to  divert 
him,  by  referring  to  some  stirring  incidents  of  the  past ;  and 
only  last  summer  I  thus  induced  him  to  describe  his  expedition 
in  aid  of  the  Polish  refugees  in  the  presence  of  one  of  his 
daughters,  who,  I  think,  heard  it  then  for  the  first  time  from 
his  own  lips. 

"This  is  the  man,"  said  Edward  Everett  Hale,  him 
self  an  active  philanthropist,  "  who  redeemed  that 
word  '  philanthropist'  from  the  scorn  which  was  falling 
upon  it,  and  which  I  have  half  a  right  to  say  it  de 
served.  The  impression  that  the  word  philanthropist 
gives  even  now,  in  half  the  civilized  world,  is  of  a 
person  with  long  hair,  who  talks  of  something  about 
which  he  knows  nothing.  And  Dr.  Howe  with  his 
practical  ability,  with  his  knowledge  of  men,  able  to 
use  everybody  just  as  far  as  his  purpose  went,  per 
fectly  unmindful  of  reputation — he  made  himself  of 
no  reputation — he  took  upon  himself  the  form  of  a 
servant, — this  man  has  redeemed  that  word  of  words 


346  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

from  such  base  sneers,  and  placed  it  where  it  belongs. 
If  he  led  every  man  and  woman,  sooner  or  later,  to 
take  his  view  of  any  one  of  our  charitable  systems, 
it  was  because  he  did  not  speak  and  act  without 
studying  to  the  bottom  the  whole  subject  he  dealt 
with.  Men  had  to  follow  where  such  a  man 
directed." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARACTER   AND    RESULTS. 

THE  language  of  friendly  eulogy  is  seldom  more 
just  than  were  these  tributes  to  the  lamented  dead  ; 
but  in  a  biography  written  fifteen  years  after  Dr. 
Howe's  death,  something  needs  to  be  said  in  addition 
to  these  truthful  words,  and  beyond  what  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  life,  as  here  related,  have  called  forth  as  we 
passed  them  briefly  in  review.  There  has  been  time 
since  1876  to  see  this  romantic  character  in  perspec 
tive,  and  to  separate  what  was  merely  accidental  and 
a  part  of  his  age  from  what  belonged  to  the  type  and 
structure  of  his  personal  being. 

Viewed  thus,  it  occurs  to  be  said  that  his  youth 
was  romantic  and  adventurous,  not  only  from  his 
own  impulses,  but  because  the  early  years  of  the  cen 
tury  invited  romance  and  hazardous  deeds.  It  was 
the  age  of  Napoleon,  to  whom  for  a  time  all  things 
seemed  possible  ;  of  Byron,  who  was  the  Napoleon 
of  the  world  of  letters  ;  of  Scott,  who  inspired  in  all 
his  readers — that  is,  in  all  who  could  read  at  all — the 
sentiment  of  chivalry  in  other  than  the  feudal  forms 
as  well  as  in  those  time-honored  accessories  of  feud 
alism  which  so  pleased  that  historical  and  poetic  mind. 
Of  all  the  intellectual  influences  of  his  youth,  it  is 
probable  that  Scott's  was  with  Dr.  Howe  the  most 

(347) 


348  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

potent  and  the  most  intimate;  and  be  it  remembered 
that  this  "  Wizard  of  the  North/'  who  had  thrown 
such  luster  over  mediaeval  customs  and  mouldering 
castles,  and  the  loyal  bonds  of  feudalism,  was  also,  in 
his  "  Heart  of  Mid-Lothian  "  the  founder  of  the  later 
school  of  philanthropic  fiction  in  which  Dickens  and 
Mrs.  Stowe  became  so  illustrious.  Philanthropy,  in 
deed,  is  the  inward  spirit  of  chivalry;  and  seldom 
have  the  two  been  more  closely  united  than  in  Howe. 
For,  be  it  observed,  this  strong  bent  of  his  nature 
which  showed  itself  in  Greek  and  German  adven 
tures,  and  afterwards  in  the  founding  of  instructive 
charities,  was  only  called  into  action  a  little  earlier  by 
the  military  spirit  of  his  boyhood  and  by  the  poetry 
and  the  example  of  Byron.  As  the  Jesuits  said  of 
Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  "  If  he  had  been  dropped  out  of  the 
clouds  in  any  part  of  the  world,  he  would  have  made 
himself  respected  ; "  so,  Dr.  Howe,  wherever  he 
found  himself,  would  have  gone  upon  some  errand 
of  mercy  or  justice;  so  strong  in  him  was  that  senti 
ment  which  the  ethical  pedants  since  his  time  call 
"  altruism."  He  was  born  to  benefit  others,  and  by 
choice  he  selected  for  his  benefactions  those  who 
could  least  repay  his  service  with  their  own — the 
blind,  the  deaf,  the  insane,  the  idiotic.  He  thought 
it  unsuitable  to  practice  medicine  and  surgery  for 
money;  nor  was  he  at  any  time  very  willing  to  sell 
his  service,  preferring  to  bestow  it  without  recom 
pense.  He  would  have  agreed  heartily  with  that 
definition  of  his  class  among  men  which  said,  "  A 
gentleman  is  one  who  has  something  to  give,  not 
something  to  sell;"  and  there  was,  indeed,  some 
pride  mingled  with  his  benevolence,  showing  that 


THE    COUNSELS    OF   ACTIVE   AGE.  349 

he  had  not  reached  that  elevated  degree  of  saintli- 
ness,  where  humility  is  the  chief  requisite. 

His  was  by  no  means  a  faultless  character.  He 
had  the  strength  and  also  the  weakness  of  an  active 
temperament ;  he  was  hasty  and  sometimes  harsh  or 
exacting,  as  well  as  tender  and  generous.  He  could 
be  as  capricious  and  as  persistent  as  if  caprice  and 
persistence  were  not  antagonistic  qualities.  He 
loved  power,  though  he  seldom  sought  it  ;  and  was 
often  unjust  to  his  opponents,  of  whom,  first  and  last, 
he  had  a  great  many.  To  his  intimates  he  was  the 
most  charming  of  companions,  with  that  "  terrible  gift 
of  familiarity,"  of  which  the  Frenchman  speaks  ;  he 
was  then  full  of  good  humor,  appreciative,  affable  ; 
but  sometimes,  and  to  some  persons  he  was  anything 
but  charming.  He  inspired  respect,  however,  where 
he  did  not  win  affection  ;  and  though  he  was  some 
times,  as  Carlyle  said  of  himself,  "  gey  ill  to  deal 
wi',''  he  was  easily  forgiven  for  the  temperamental 
and  surface  faults  of  a  nature  essentially  superior, 
noble,  and  winning.  In  aspect  as  well  as  in  char 
acter  he  was  in  his  prime  a  true  type  of  the  educated 
American — lithe,  impetuous,  an  Arab  in  figure  and 
in  horsemanship  ;  dark  in  eye  and  hair,  but  with  a 
glowing  color  and  a  manner  that  bespoke  energy 
tempered  by  inward  courtesy.  Till  within  a  few 
months  of  his  death  it  was  his  custom  to  spend  some 
part  of  every  day  on  horseback  ;  and  he  was  a  lover 
of  the  horse,  and  the  humbler  servants  of  man.  He 
was  a  good  gardener,  too,  and  in  the  intervals  of  his 
busy  life  he  grew  pears  and  grapes — a  fact  which 
Theodore  Parker  did  not  fail  to  record  in  that  half- 
humorous,  half-serious  epitaph  which  he  wrote  for 


350  DR-  s.  G.  HOWE. 

his  friend  from  Santa  Cruz,  after  parting  from  him 
for  the  last  time,  in  February, 


1  A  part  only  of  this  long  inscription  in  mortuary  Latin  can  here 
be  given,  with  a  free  version  : 

Hie  jacet 

Expectans  resurrectionem  justorum 
Omne  quod  mortale  erat 

Viri  eximii 

Samuelis  Gridleji  Howe,  M.  D. 
Juvenis  lusit  in  universitate  Brownensi, 

Causa  Educationis, 
Et  Praesidi  reverendissimo  celeberrimo  Messer 

Multum  displicuit  ; 
Sed  versatus  valde  fit 

In  Lingua  difficilissima  Universitat.  Brownensis, 

Et  ejus  Artibus,  Literis,  Philcsophiaque  ; 

Inter  Proceres  pulchros  fuit  Antinous. 

Studuit  Artem  Medicinae  : 
Discipulus  multa  cadavera  deterravit  et  in  frusta  secavit 

Vi  et  armis  : 

Magister  multorum  Animas  Heroumad  Orcum  praemature  demisit. 
Inter  Medicos  verus  ^Esculapius, 

In  terra  Argiva, 

Multos  Turcos  occidit  et  Arte  Medica  et  Gladio, 
Quo  melius  nunquam  se  sustentabat  supra  femur  militis. 

Pro  Polonia  invictissima  bellavit  ; 
Incarcerates  visitavit,  Caecos  fecit  videre, 
Mutos  dicere,  Stultos  intelligere  (ut  ipse  ;) 
Lunaticos  in  sanam  restituit  mentem  ; 

Liberavit  Servos  : 
Pyros  jucundissimos  sibi  fecit  crescere  in  hortis  ; 

Vixit  annos  circiter.  Ixxvii. 

Clamant  incarcerati,  lacrymant  caeci, 

Mcerent  mud,  lugent  stulti, 

Stridunt  lunatici 
Atque  sedent  servi  in  pulvere. 


THE    COUNSELS   OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  351 

There  was  indeed  something  in  Dr.  Howe's  earnest 
ness  and  untiring  zeal,  often  changing  its  objects, 
but  never  ceasing  to  act,  which  might  cause  the  un 
thinking  to  laugh,  and  induce  even  his  friends  to 


Awaiting  the  resurrection  of  the  just 
Here  lies  all  that  was  mortal 

Of  that  illustrious  man, 

Samuel  Gridley  Howe,  M.  D. 

As  a  youth  he  disported  in 

Brown  University 
Looking  towards  Education, 

And  much  he  offended 
Its  reverend  and  famous  President 

Messer. 

Yet  he  became  well  versed 
In  the  difficult  dialect  of 

Brown  University, 
Its  Arts,  its  Letters,  its  Philosophy. 

He  studied  the  medical  art  ; 

As  a  pupil,  with  force  and  arms, 

He  disinterred   many  subjects  and 

Cut  them  in  bits  ; 

As  a  Master  in  the  art 

He  sent  to  Pluto's  gloomy  reign 

The  souls  of  many  chiefs  untimely  slain  ; 

A  true  ^Esculapius  among  doctors 

He   slew  many  Turks   by  medical  art 

Or  by  the  sword, 

Than  which 
A  better  never  did  sustain  itself 

Upon  a  soldier's  thigh. 
He  fought  for  Poland  the  unconquered, 

Visited  those  in  prison, 

Made  the  blind  see,  the  dumb  speak, 

The  foolish  understand, 

As  well  as  he  could. 


352  DR.    S.    G.    HOWE. 

smile  now  and  then.  It  was  a  sort  of  quixotism,  a 
little  at  variance  with  the  fashion  of  the  times,  and 
of  the  circle  in  which  he  oftenest  moved.  But  when 
those  who  smiled  looked  at  the  great  results  attained, 
and  saw  his  most  quixotic  undertakings  at  last 
crowned  with  success,  they  wondered  more  than 
they  jested  at  him.  Hardly  any  enterprise  to  which 
he  put  his  hand  zealously  failed  in  the  end  to  prosper, 
though  it  might  be  twenty  or  thirty  years  after  his 
effort  and  his  prediction  of  ultimate  success.  For  he 
had  the  insight  of  genius  ;  he  understood  the  logic 
of  events  and  situations,  and  could  thus  foresee  what 
was  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  come.  The  education  of 
the  blind  and  the  deaf,  the  training  of  idiots,  the  best 
care  of  the  hopeless  insane,  of  poor  children,  of  the 
dependent  classes  in  general,  have  already  followed, 
or  seem  about  to  follow  in  the  track  which  he  marked 
out  thirt)r,  forty,  or  fifty  years  ago. 

Persons  gifted  with  this  unerring  divination  of  the 
future  do  not  need,  and  seldom  possess  those  instru 
mentalities  of  talent  which  make  men  famous  in 
literature,  in  politics,  or  in  the  arts  of  life.  Dr.  Howe 
never  acquired,  nor  perhaps  ever  sought  to  attain,  elo 
quence  in  oratory  or  a  finished  style  in  writing;  indeed 


He  restored  the  insane  to  their 

Right  mind, 

He  freed  the  slave. 

He  made  his  garden  yield  the  choicest  pears. 

He  lived  about  seventy-seven  years. 
Prisoners  bewail  him,  blind  men  weep  for  him, 

The  dumb  lament,  idiots  mourn, 
And  the   insane   cry  out  for  him  ; 
And  the  slaves  sit  down  in  the  dust. 


THE   COUNSELS    OF    ACTIVE    AGE.  353 

he  was  rather  averse,  as  men  of  action  often  are,  to 
oratory  and  those  who  profess  it.  For  literature  he 
had  a  hearty  admiration,  but  it  was  the  effect  rather 
than  the  form  of  good  writing  that  he  admired.  He 
spoke  with  fluency  three  or  four  of  the  languages  of 
Europe,  and  could  make  himself  understood  in  most 
of  them ;  was  a  scholar  as  well  as  a  man  of  affairs ; 
he  wrote  always  with  facility  and  often  with  ^great 
vigor,  in  a  style  savoring,  as  did  his  keen  and  logical 
intellect,  rather  of  the  French  than  the  English 
characteristics.  He  was  impatient  of  the  labor  of 
writing,  though  never  very  well  satisfied  with  what 
he  wrote,  and  apt  to  leave  it  unfinished  and  un- 
trimmed,  trusting  to  the  force  of  his  ideas  to  carry 
his  meaning  along. 

There  grew  up  in  Boston  and  its  neighborhood,  in 
Dr.  Howe's  early  and  middle  life,  a  group  of  remark 
able  men  ;  to  whom  others  not  of  that  neighborhood 
were  attracted  by  congeniality  of  aspirations  or 
tastes.  Such  were  Channing,  Emerson,  Webster,  Ev 
erett,  Allston,  the  Danas,  Alcott,  Hawthorne,  Long 
fellow,  Lowell,  Margaret  Fuller,  Garrison,  Theodore 
Parker,  Horace  Mann,  Sumner,  Agassiz,  Choate,  An 
drew,  Wendell  Phillips,  James  Freeman  Clarke.  Each 
of  these  men  and  women  was  capable  of  some  excel 
lent  part  in  the  work  of  life,  and  no  one  of  them  iter 
ated  or  greatly  Imitated  the  task  of  any  other.  To 
us  who  come  after  them  they  seem  as  one  group,  car 
ried  through  two  successive  generations  of  men;  but, 
in  fact,  they  formed  a  number  of  small  groups  drawn 
together  by  accident  or  by  affinity,  and  often  con 
tending  warmly,  group  against  group.  Among  all 
these,  and  others  whom  I  have  not  named,  Dr.  Howe 


354  *>R,    S,    G.    HOWE. 

stood  forth,  as  individual  and  almost  as  conspicuous 
as  any.  He  was  neither  saint,  nor  poet,  nor  orator,  nor 
matchless  prose-writer;  neither  great  lawyer,  nor  man 
of  unquestioned  eminence  in  science,  nor  artist,  nof 
seer,  nor  persistent  champion  of  a  single  great  cause; 
but  his  own  work,  such  as  it  was,  drew  the  attention  of 
all.  He  was  known  and  welcomed  in  all  these  groups, 
and  he  reflected  as  much  luster  on  his  native  city  as 
most  of  those  enumerated.  He  was  of  their  time  and 
endowed  with  a  portion  of  their  spirit  ;  he  was,  for 
half  a  century,  one  of  those  few  persons  who  could 
not  be  omitted  when  Boston  was  described  ;  and,  like 
the  rest  of  these  able  men,  he  has  left  no  direct  suc 
cessor.  Unique  in  his  position,  broad  in  his  sympa 
thies,  yet  not  sympathizing  with  all;  a  genuine  Ameri 
can  democrat,  and  yet,  by  instinct  and  culture  a  gen 
tleman,  nay,  a  chevalier — he  mingled  many  contrasted 
qualities.  He  gained  distinction  without  seeking  it, 
valued  it  but  little,  was  more  deeply  interested  in 
ideas  than  institutions,  and  was  impatient  of  the 
common  worldly  success,  of  fame,  and  the  mere  sound 
of  titles.  New  England  will  see  many  illustrious 
men  hereafter,  but  hardly  any  like  him,  so  peculiar 
was  Dr.  Howe  in  his  talents,  in  the  circumstances  of 
his  career,  and  in  the  far-reaching  results  of  his  phil 
anthropic  activity, 


I  NDEX. 


Abbe,  Hauy  and  the  Blind,  125,  128-129.] 

Abbott,  J.  S.  C.  (quoted),  237. 

Acarnania  in  Greece,  24,  73. 

Acropolis  of  Athens,  38. 

Aero-Corinth,  the  Citadel,  80. 

Act,  Fugitive  Slave,  235-241,  247. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  Sr.,  193,  195,  196. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  Jr.,  189,  196. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  187,  191,  195,  217,  222,  224,  248. 

Adams,  Samuel,  12,  224. 

Address  against  Texas  Annexation,  197-209. 

Adventures  of  a  Younger  Son  (Trelawny),  38. 

JEg'ma,  Burial  at,  63. 

yEgina,  The  harbor  at,  53-58,  312. 

^gina,  Dr.  Howe's  life  there,  59,  310,  312,  319. 

,/Eneid  (quoted),  174,  183. 

vEscalapius,  350-351. 

Agassiz,  Prof.  Louis,  140,  285,  286,  329. 

Albania  and  the  Albanians,  28,  32,  44,  74,  77. 

Albanian  costume,  32,  34. 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson,  275,  353. 

Allen,  Charles,  of  Worcester,  195-198,  211,  249-250. 

Amalgamation  of  negroes  and  whites,  286-289. 

America,  its  contributions  for  Greece,  57,  65 ;  for  Crete,  309- 

321. 

America,  its  contributions  for  Poland,  88,  93,  97,  100-102. 
America,  Campbell's  opinion  of,  105,  , 


356  INDEX. 

American  Bible  Society,  136,  164. 
American  ladies  in  Athens,  315,  319. 
"American  Monthly  Magazine,"  113. 
"American  Notes  "  of  Dickens,  109, 159,  160. 
American  Polish  Committee,  88,  99,  102. 
jAmphissa  (Salona)  in  Greece,  26,  41. 
Anagnos,  Dr.  Michael,  V.,  137,  167,  311. 
Anagnos,  Mrs.  Julia,  176,  338. 
Andrew,  John  A.  (Governor),  ill.,   212,  225,  228,  252,  270,  273, 

290-291,  309,  353. 
Annexation  of  Texas,  IV.,  190.  207. 
Anti-Masons,  224. 

Anti-Texas  Convention  of  1845,  IV.,  190-209. 
Antwerp  in  Belgium,  297. 
Appleton,  Nathan,  194. 
Arachova,  a  town  in  Greece,  26,  42. 
Arcadia,  The  war  in,  1825-26,  29,  32,  8l. 
Argos  in  Greece,  The  fights  near,  33,  49. 
Argos  and  the  Argolid,  32,  41,  50,  67,  86,  311. 
Armatoli  (Greek  robbers),  51. 
Articulation  for  the  deaf,  304-308. 
Asylum   for  the  Blind,  125-127,  134,  137-141,  145,  167,  175, 

231,311- 

Asylum  for  the  Deaf,  Hartford,  160,  181,  306. 
Asylum  at  Gheel  in  Belgium,  297-301. 
Asylums  for  the  Blind  in  Europe,  87,  127-131. 
Asylums  for  the  Insane,  297-302 ;  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  275. 
Athens  in  the  Greek  Revolution,  37,  55. 
Athens  in  1890,  77,  80,  321. 
Athens,  Dr.  Howe's  visit  in  1867,  311,  316. 
Auburn  (N.  Y.)  Prison,  213-214. 

Bacon,  Lord  (quoted),  109. 

Baez,  Gen.,  of  Santo  Domingo,  323,  326. 

Baker,  Mrs.  Walter,  319. 

Bayard,  Chevalier,  Dr.  Howe  compared  to,  106. 

Belgian  Colony  of  Gheel,  297-301. 


INDEX.  357 

Belgium,  Revolution  in  (1830),  86. 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  122. 

Berlin,  Dr.  Howe's  imprisonment  at,  80-99. 

Bible  and  Bible  Societies,  12,  15,  132-137. 

Biglow  Papers  mentioned,  216  ;   (quoted)  249. 

Bird  Club,  252.  283,  331. 

Bird,  Francis  William,  V.,  193,  252,  283,  322,  328,  334,  340, 

343.  344- 
Bird,  Francis  William,  Letters  of  Dr.  Howe  to,  284,  328-333, 

335-34L 

Blind  in  Europe,  87,  127-131. 
Blind,  Massachusetts  Asylum  for,  no,  125-127,  134,   137-141, 

145,  167,  175,  231,  311,  344. 

Board  of  State  Charities,  226,  228,  291-308,  336,  344. 
Books  for  the  Blind,  126,  131-137. 
Boston  and  Dr.  Howe,  117,  189,  231,  324,  331,  353. 
Boston  and  Charles  Sumner,  122,  189,  334, 
Boston  in  1813-14,  13;  in  1821,  20;  in  1833,  in,  116. 
Boston,  Literary  celebrities  in,  21,  113,  122,  353. 
Boston  and  the  Abolitionists,  115. 
Boston  Common  and  its  Vicinity,  14,  112. 
Boston  Massacre,  226. 
Boston  Newspapers,  250,  282,  312. 
Boston,  Emerson's  censure  of,  in  1846,  217. 
Botzaris,  Marco,  73-75,  77,  277. 
Brace,  Charles  Loring,  274. 
Brace,  Julia  (a  blind  mute),  162. 
Bracebridges  (an  English  family),  177-178. 
Bridgman,  Laura,  121,  145-167. 
Brimmer,  Martin,  193,  321. 

Brisbane,  Albert,  procures  Dr.  Howe's  release,  90. 
Brown,  John  (of  Kansas  and  Virginia),  III.,  V.,  251,  254-265, 

268,  274-275,  277,  343. 
Brown,  John,  Jr.,  275-276. 
Brown  University,  15,  351. 
Bryant,  W.  C,  mentioned,  113;  (quoted)  183. 
Bullock,  Alexander  Hamilton,  243-244. 


358  INDEX. 

Bunker  Hill,  Foitifications  at,  12. 

Bureaucrats  of  Greece,  1831,  55-56. 

Burial  of  a  Greek  Warrior,  63. 

Burns,  Antony  (a  fugitive),  244. 

Byron,  Lord,  his  poetry,  23 ;  visits  Greece,  24,  75  ;  dies  at  Mis- 

solonghi,  24. 

Byron  and  Dr.  Howe,  23,  25,  75,  347,  348. 
Byron  and  Trelawny,  24,  35,  41,  49. 

Calamata,  Adventures  at,  30,  31. 

Calhoun,  John  Caldwell,  187,  191-192,  195. 

Cambridge,  Everett  at,  20. 

Campbell,  Thomas  (mentioned),  20;  (quoted)  125. 

Candia  or  Crete,  78,  97,  309,  311,  322. 

Capo  d'Istria,  President  of  Greece,  65,  66,  69,  79,  83-84,  319. 

Carolina,  South  (mentioned),  120,  226,  256. 

Carlyle,  Thomas  (mentioned),  no;  (quoted)  344,  349. 

Caswell,  Alexis  (President  of  Brown  University),  15-19. 

Caswell,  Oliver  (pupil  of  Dr.  Howe),  165, 

Cenchrasa,  in  Greece,  79. 

Channing,  Ellery  (the  poet),  14,  113. 

Channing,  W.  E.  (the  divine),  113-115,  283. 

Characteristics  of  Dr.  Howe,  348-354. 

Charities,  Board  of,  291-293,  296,  336,  337,  340,  344. 

Charity,  Principles  of,  293,  302,  308,  312. 

Charity,  Practical,  312,  315,  316,  320. 

Chase,  Salmon  Portland,  228,  232. 

Chevalier  of  the  Greek  Legion,  322,  342. 

Children  in  reformatories,  296 ;  in  deaf-mute  schools,  304-305. 

Chloral,  its  evil  effects,  340,  342. 

Choate,  Rufus,  146-147,  173,  196,  353. 

Civil  War  in  America,  277,  281. 

Clubs  (The  Bird),  252,  283,  331 ;  (The  Massachusetts)  331. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  282,  353. 

Clarke,  John,  306,  344. 

Clarke  Institution  tor  the  Deaf,  181,  306,  344. 

Clay,  Henry,  187,  194,  196,  250. 


INDEX.  359 

Cochrane,  Lord,  76-77, 

Colocotroni,  a  Greek  chieftain,  67,  81-83. 

Colony,  at  Corinth,  79-80,  179. 

Colony  of  Gheel  in  Belgium,  297-301. 

Combe,  George,  231. 

Commission,  Sanitary,  282,  284, 

Concord,  Mass.,  217,  254,  273-274, 

Congress,  Massachusetts  Members  of,  227-231. 

"Conscience  Whigs,"  209,  211-212,  227,  250, 

Cooke,  Miss  Alice,  301. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  99,  102. 

Corinth  in  Greece,  23,  26,  48,  50,  67,  80,  83,  179. 

"  Cotton  Whigs,"  197,  211,  230,  249. 

Craft,  William  and  Ellen  (fugitives),  235-237,  242, 

Crawford,  the  sculptor,  175;  his  son,  the  novelist,  175. 

Cretan,  The  (newspaper),  312. 

Crete  (mentioned),  78,  97,  309,  311-322. 

Cuba,  Dr.  Howe  in,  264. 

Curtis  family,  245. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  192,  198. 

Gushing,  Caleb,  Anecdote  of,  169. 

Dana,  the  poet  (mentioned),  113, 

Dana,  Richard  Henry,  141,  189,  191,  196,  245,  353. 

Dantzic,  Dr.  Howe  at,  96. 

Daniel  Webster,  IV,  113,  172-173,  187,  192,  199-209,  210,  227, 

234,  248,  281,  353. 
Dartmouth  College,  146. 
Davis,  Jefferson,  232,  234,  256-257,  275, 

Death  of  Agassiz,  329;  of  Mr.  Bird's  son,  331;  of  Byron,  24. 
Death  of  Dr.  Howe,  342  ;  of  Charles  Sumner,  329. 
Dervenaki,  Pass  of,  49-50. 
Devens,  Charles,  241-242, 
Dickens,   Charles   (mentioned),   137,   146,    348;    (quoted)     109, 

159. 

Digby,  Sir  Kenelm.  172,  348. 
Dikaios  (Papa  Flesher),  32-33. 


360  INDEX. 

Dirrone  (Prussian  village),  92. 
Discipline  of  Prisons,  170,  212—216. 
Divan  of  Constantinople,  85. 
Dix,  Dorothea  Lynde,  170,  282. 
Dominican  Republic,  323-330. 
Don  Quixote,  326,  328. 
Douglas,  Stephen  Arnold,  187. 
Douglass,  Frederick,  258:,  324-325. 
Dr,  Howe  (See  Havre  Samuel  Gridley). 
Dramalis  Pasha*  defeated,  48, 
D wight,  Edmund,  194.. 
IKvight,  Louis,  212, 

Earle,  Edward,  of  Worcester,  337. 

Early  Life  of  Dr.  Howe,  13-15,  117. 

Education  of  the  Blind,  87,  99,  no,  118-121,  125-144,  145,  302. 

Education  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  142,  160-163,  I^i,  302,  304- 

308. 

Elbing,  in  Prussian  Poland,  92,  96. 
Eliot,  Samuel  Atkins,  212,  242,  245. 
Eliot,  Samuel,  146. 

Emancipation  in  the  Civil  War,  281,  286. 
Emancipation,  Results  of,  286-289, 
Emancipation  League  established,  282-283. 
Emerson's  Letter  to  Dr.  Howe,  217. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo  (mentioned),  15,  20,  in,  225,  275,  353  ; 

(quoted)  14,  21,  in,  217. 
Emigrant  Aid  Company,  283. 
Europe,  first  visited  by  Dr.  Howe,  24,  26;  revisited  in  1828,  56; 

in  1831,  87 ;  in  1843-44,  80,  176-180;  in  1867,  309-321. 
"  Evangeline  "  of  Longfellow,  123. 
Everett,  Edward  (mentioned),  20,  26,  113,  230,  353. 
Exercise  of  the  War  Power  for  Emancipation,  283. 

Fabens,  Mr.,  at  Santo  Domingo,  327,  331. 

Family  care  of  children,  294-297  ;  of  the  Insane,  297-302  ;  of 
the  Poor,  302-303. 


INDEX.  361 

Family  system  advocated,  295-296,  301. 

Fanar,  and  the  Fanariotes,  70,71. 

Faneuil  Hall  Fair,  119. 

Faneuil  Hall  Committee,  253-254. 

Faneuil  Hall,  Meetings  at,  196,  21  o,  21 6,  2391, 

Fenton,  the  assassin,  37-43,  46. 

Fillmore,  Millard  (President,  1850-53),  235, 248. 

Finlay,  George  (Phiihellene),  66,  77,  322,  341. 

Fisher,  Dr.  John  D.,  87,  91,  95,  98,  119. 

Flesher,  Papa  (Greek  chieftain),  32-33. 

Forbes,  Hugh  (an  Englishman),.  258. 

Forbes,  John  Murray,  255,  321. 

Foster,  Lafayette  S.,  Senator  (quoted),  241. 

Francesco,  a  Greek  soldier,  29-32,,  45.,  50-55. 

Francis,  Dr.  J.  W.  (quoted),  114. 

Freedmen's  Commission,  285. 

Freeman,  Watson,  243,  245. 

Free  soil  party,  239. 

Fruits  of  Santo  Domingo,  330. 

Fugitive  slaves  in  Boston,  216-226,  235,  246. 

Fugitive  Slave  Act,  232,  237-247. 

Fustinella  (the  Greek  kilt),  28,  32, 45,  77. 

Garabusi,  or  Grabousa,  in  Crete,  78,  97. 

Garibaldi,  V.,  253,277. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  115,  183,  189,  198,  283,  353. 

Geneva  (mentioned),  310. 

German  schools  for  the  deaf,  308. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  223. 

Gheel  and  its  insane  inhabitants,  297—301. 

Glen-Mary  (home  of  N.  P.  Willis),  122. 

Gonsales,  President  of  Santo  Domingo,  327. 

Gould,  Benjamin  Apthorp,  13. 

Grabousa,  in  Crete,  78,  97. 

"  Graces  Three  '*  of  Bond  street,  175. 

Grant,  President,  321,  323. 

Greece,  Revolution  in,  23-87,  118,  228,  319. 


362  INDEX. 

Greece  under  Capo  d'Istria,  83-84,  319. 

Greek  Character,  Si,  84-85,313. 

Greek  Legion  of  Honor,  321,  342. 

Greek  Revolution,  Dr.  Howe's  history  of,  30,  65  ;  (quoted)    32, 

37-40,  67-77. 

"  Green  Peace  "  at  South  Boston, 
Grivas  (Greek  chieftain),  82. 

Hale,  John  Parker,  Senator,  232. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  344, 

Hallett,  Benjamin  Franklin,  245. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  232-233. 

Harper's  Ferry  foray,  264,  269,  276-277, 

Hartford  Asylum  for  the  Deaf,  160,  181,  306,  344, 

Harvard  College,  22,  113. 

Hastings,  Frank  Abney  (English  captain),  77. 

Hauy,  Valentine,  125,  128-129. 

Hawthorn,  Nathaniel,  113,  118. 

Hayti  and  Santo  Domingo,  323-330. 

Hedge,  Frederic  Henry,  24. 

Hexamilia,  near  Corinth,  80. 

Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth,  258-260,  263,  270-271. 

Hispaniola,  323. 

History  of  the  Greek  Revolution,  30,  32,  37-40,  65,  67. 

Hoar,  Samuel. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell  (mentioned),  113;  (quoted)  112. 

Hospital  at  Gheel  in  Belgium,  227,  300. 

House-fly,  his  rights  and  duties,  338. 

Howe,  Henry  M.  (son  of  Dr.  Howe),  322,  341. 

Howe,  Joseph,  (father  of  Dr.  Howe),  12-13,  "7- 

Howe,  Julia  Ward,  wife  of  Dr.  Howe,  v.,  147, 171, 175, 177~179> 

1     255,  277,  310-312,  324,  326,  334,  339-340,  342. 

Howe,  Julia  Romana,  176,  338. 

Howe,  Maud,  339. 

Howe,  Samuel  Gridley,  ancestry  and  birth,  u  ;  boyhood,  13  ; 
college  life,  1 5-2 1 ;  medical  studies,  2 1 ;  goes  to  Greece,  25  ;  his 
campaigns,  26-28 ;  rescues  a  wounded  Greek,  29-32 ;  visits 


INDEX.  363 

Papa  Flesher,  33  ;  fights  at  the  mills,  34  ;  tells  the  story  of  Tre- 
lawny  on  Parnassus,  36-40;  adventure  with  Whitcombe,  44-47; 
at  the  pass  of  Dervenaki,  50 ;  portrays  Francesco,  50-55  ;  Dr. 
Howe  at  yEgina,  57-58  ;  describes  death  of  Nicolo,  56-64  ;  his 
torical  sketches  by,  65-77  ;  praises  Byron,  75-76;  shut  up  in 
Crete,  78;  colonizes  Corinth,  79-80;  baffles  Colocotroni,  82-83; 
criticises  Capo  d'Istria,  83-85  ;  leaves  Geeece,  86;  his  life  in 
Paris,  86-88  ;  goes  to  aid  the  Poles,  88-91  ;  imprisoned  at  Ber 
lin,  88-99,  215  ;  released  and  returns  to  Boston,  104-106;  be 
gins  to  study  the  blind,  no,  118;  opens  the  Blind  Asylum, 
126-130;  improves  the  alphabet  and  printing  for  the  blind, 
J3l~l37  I  develops  the  Asylum,  138-140;  discovers  Laura 
Bridgman,  145-147;  educates  her,  150,  157;  visits  Hartford, 
161-162 ;  provides  for  Laura's  support,  166  ;  founds  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Idiot  School,  168-169;  his  universal  philanthropy, 
170;  seeks  a  foreign  appointment,  173;  courtship  and  marriage, 
1 75-1 76;  visits  England,  1 76-1 80;  meets  Florence  Nightingale, 
177;  returns  home,  180;  aids  Horace  Mann  in  educational 
reforms,  181;  debates  prison  discipline,  212-216 ;  organizes  a 
movement  for  the  fugitive  slaves,  216;  his  speech  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  217-222  ;  chairman  of  the  Vigilance  Committee,  226, 
236,  246  ;  nominated  for  Congress  against  R.  C.  Winthrop, 
228-230 ;  helps  elect  Charles  Sumner  Senator,  247  ;  edits  a 
Boston  daily,  250 ;  a  member  of  the  Bird  Club,  252 ;  aids 
Kansas,  253 ;  meets  John  Brown,  255 ;  learns  Brown's 
plans,  257-260 ;  aids  Brown's  Virginia  plans,  261-265 ; 
sends  him  money,  265  ;  letter  concerning  Brown,  269-270; 
goes  to  Canada,  272  ;  returns  home,  and  testifies  at  Wash 
ington,  257,  273;  in  Montreal,  275;  his  part  in  the  Civil 
War,  277-285;  work  among  the  freedmen,  285-290;  re 
organizes  the  public  charities  of  Massachusetts,  291-295  ; 
advocates  separation  of  the  poor  and  the  defective,  295-297  ; 
visits  the  insane  at  Gheel,  297-300 ;  reforms  the  education  of 
deaf  children,  302-307;  results  of  his  charitable  work,  307-308  ; 
revisits  Athens  and  Crete,  309-312;  reports  on  his  Cretan 
charities,  312-316 ;  opens  work-schools  in  Athens,  316; 
hazardous  ventures  in  Crete,  317-318;  revisits  y£gina,  319; 


364  INDEX. 

sums  up  results  of  Cretan  charities,  320-321  ;  seeks  the  place 
of  Resident  Minister  at  Athens,  322 ;  laments  the  death  of 
George  Finlay,  322 ;  sent  as  Commissioner  to  Santo  Do 
mingo,  323-325  ;  revisits  the  Dominicans,  326-331 ;  laments 
death  of  Sumner,  329;  of  Mr.  Bird's  son,  331,  335;  tribute 
to  Sumner's  character,  333  ;  Quixotism  of  Dr.  Howe,  326, 
333 ;  his  increasing  infirmities,  336-340 ;  his  affection  for 
Mr.  Bird,  338-339 ;  resigns  from  the  Board  of  Charities,  336- 
337  ;  last  illness  and  death,  342-343  ;  eulogies  on,  343~345  ; 
his  romantic  character,  346-347  ;  his  faults,  348 ;  epitaph  by 
Theodore  Parker,  350-352;  his  talents,  353;  his  place 
among  Boston's  famous  men,  353-354. 

Hoyt,  George  H.,  272. 

Hubbard,  Gardiner  Greene,  145,  181, 

Hughes,  the  slave-hunter,  235-236. 

Huntington,  Bishop,  309. 

Hyatt,  Thaddeus,  275-276. 

Hydra  (a  Greek  island),  45. 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  his  army,  33. 

Idiot  School,  founded  by  Dr.  Howe,  168-169 ;  visited  by  him,  re 
moved  to  Waltham,  169. 

Immortality,  Hopes  of,  333,  336. 

Industrial  Schools  at  Athens,  316, 

Insane,  Care  of,  297-302  ;  in  asylums,  298;  in  families,  297-301; 
at  Gheel,  297-301 ;  in  Scotland,  299. 

Insane  (mentioned),  352. 

Insurrection  in  Crete  (1867),  309,  312,  321. 

Jackson,  Andrew  (President),  105,  109,  187. 

Jackson,  Dr.  James,  21. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  232. 

July,  French  Revolution  of,  86,  173,  228. 

Kagi,  John  Henry  (one  of  John  Brown's  men),  256. 
Kalamata  (see  Calamata)  in  Greece,  30-31. 
Kalliergi,  78. 


INDEX.  365 

Kanaris  (Greek  admiral),  70. 
Kansas  affairs,  235,  253-254,  261-262,  264,  290. 
Karaiskakis  (Greek  general),  76  ;  his  death,  77. 
Keller,  Helen  (blind  and  deaf),  165. 
Kemble,  "Francis  Anne"  (quoted),  111-112. 
King,  Charles,  193. 

King  of  Prussia's  bust,  90;    his  medal,   104;  his  fear  of  Dr. 
Howe,  104. 

Labor  among  the  insane  at  Gheel,  298 ;  at  Sandwich,  302. 

Lafayette,  86,  88,  93,  103,  117,  228;  (quoted)  103,  143. 

Latimer,  a  fugitive  slave,  216. 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  193,  195,  197. 

Lebadea,  in  Boeotia,  25,  39. 

Lepton  (Greek  money),  315. 

Lieber,  Dr.  Francis,  120-121. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  283-285. 

London  "  Times,"  320. 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  113,  121-123,  193. 

Loring,  Charles  G.,  193. 

Loring,  Edward  Greeley,  244. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  216  ;  (quoted)  249. 

Lunatics  at  Gheel,  297-301 ;  in  Massachusetts,  300-301. 

Luncly,  Benjamin,  191. 

Mann,  Horace,  30,  104,  116,  118,  181,  190,  212,231,  248-249,251, 

251,  305,  3o6,  334,  339- 
Mason,  John  M.,  of  New  York,  1 14. 
Mason,  John  M.,  of  Virginia,  275. 
Massachusetts  charities,  109,  291,  293,  299,  306,  344. 
Massachusetts  Philanthropist,  170,  344-345. 
Mavrocordato,  Alexander,  26-27,  37-3^,  71-73,  78. 
Mavromichalis  (Petro  Bey),  67-70. 
Mavromichalis  (the  assassins),  66. 
McClellan,  General,  283-284. 
Message  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  284-285. 
Messer,  Dr.,  President  of  Brown  University,  18,  351. 


366  INDEX. 

Method  of  instructing  the  deaf,  181.  302-308. 
Methods  of  treating  the  insane,  297-302. 
Miller,  Jonathan  P.,  of  Vermont,  34,  272. 
Morgan,  William  (the  Anti-Mason),  224. 
Morpeth,  Lord,  176,  179. 
Morton,  Edwin,  275. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  113. 
Mulattoes  at  the  South,  286-287. 

Napoleon,  mentioned,  347. 

Napoli  (see  Nauplia). 

Narragansett  Pier,  R.  I.,  332. 

Nauplia  (in  Greece),  26,  33-34,  69,  82,  311. 

Navarino,  Dr.  Howe  lands  there,  25  ;  battle  of,  26,  31,  33. 

Negroes  of  Hayti,  325,  330. 

Negroes  and  Mulattoes,  286-289. 

Nemesis  wields  a  guiding-rod,  288. 

New  England  Institution  for  the  Blind. 

"  New  England  Magazine  "  (quoted),  29,  32,  44,  113. 

New  Orleans  Slavery,  216. 

Newport,  R.  I.,  328,  331,  336,  340,  342. 

Niagara  (Boston  Slave  Ship),  220. 

Nicolo,  his  death  and  burial,  59-64. 

Nightingale,  Florence,  177,  178. 

Nikitas  (Greek  chieftain),  49,  57. 

"North  American  Review,"  113,  230. 

Northampton,  Mass.,  306. 

North  Carolina  slave  prices,  1854,  244. 

Oak  Glen,  Dr.  Howe's  country  house,  328. 
Odysseus  (Greek  chieftain),  25,  36-37,  41-42. 
Omar  Pasha,  74. 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  285. 
Oxenstiern  (quoted),  333. 

Palfrey,  John  Gorham,  189,  230,  248-249. 
Palikari  (Greek  warrior),  28, 


INDEX.  367 

Papin's  Digester  (mentioned),  98. 
Paris,  Dr.  Howe  in,  86,  88,  90,  99. 
Parker,  Theodore,  114-115, 188,  196,  200,  257,  270,  334,  336,  339, 

348. 

Parker's  Hotel,  Boston,  339, 

Parkman,  Dr.  George,  217,  231,235,  256-257,  258-259, 
Parnassus,  The  cave  on,  36-37,  41,  44. 
Patras,  Dr.  Howe  lands  at,  82. 
Peabody,  Elizabeth,  20,  119. 
Pearson,  John  H.,  slave-hunter,  213-214,  226. 
Peasants  in  Greece,  Village  of,  52-54,  75. 
Peloponnesus,  Campaigns  in,  26,  29-34. 
Perkins,  Thomas  Handasyde,  119. 

Perkins  Institution  for  the  Blind,  125-127,  134,  137-141,  145,  344. 
Peterboro,N.  Y.  (home  of  Gerrit  Smith),  257,  321, 
Philadelphia  Prison,  213-15. 
Philanthropists,  345. 

Philanthropy  defined,  109,  348;  of  Dr.  Howe,  170, 
Philhellenes,  35,  46,  66,  81,  323,  341, 
Phillips,  Jonathan,  119. 

Phillips,  Stephen  Clarendon,  195-196,  225,  250, 
Phillips,  Stephen  H.,  iv. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  III,  47,  49,  141,  241-242,  281,  283-285, 
Pierce,  Franklin  (President),  235. 
Piraeus  (Port  of  Athens),  55-56,  77-78,319, 
Poland  in  1832,  89-94,  101, 
Polish  Revolution,  88,  91-4. 
Providence,  R.  I.,  15,  21. 

Prussian  imprisonment  of  Dr.  Howe,  89-99,  2I5« 
Psara  (a  Greek  island),  56. 

Quincy,  Edmund,  242,  247,  283. 

Quixotism  of  Dr.  Howe,  323,  326,  333,  352  ;  of  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  334. 

Race  questions  in  America,  286-289. 
Rebellion  of  1861,  281. 


305  INDEX. 

Reconstruction  of  the  Union,  290. 

Recovery  of  the  insane,  297-302, 

Redpath,  James,  275-276. 

Reformation  of  Children,  296. 

Reformation  of  Prisoners,  212-216, 

Reid,  Lucy  (blind  and  deaf),  164-165, 

Relief  of  Cretans  in  1867,  309-322. 

Relief  of  Greeks  by  Dr,  Howe  57-58.  82-83,  3°9>  322- 

Relief  of  Polish  Refugees,  88-99;  of  fugitive  slaves,  216,  235, 

345- 

Republican  Party,  275,  325, 
Rights  of  the  House-fly,  338, 
Rights  of  Slaves,  268. 
Ripley,  Rev.  George,  116, 
Rives,  William  Cabell,  of  Virginia,  90,  189. 
Robinson,  William  S.  ("  Warrington  "),  322. 
Rogers,  Miss  Harriet,  145,  181,  306. 
Rogers,  Samuel,  180. 
Rome,  Dr.  Howe's  visit  to,  176, 

Salamis,  Gulf  of,  319, 

Salona  in  Greece,  24,  36,  41, 

Samana  Bay  in  Santo  Domingo,  326-330. 

Samana  Bay  Company,  326-328. 

Sanborn,  F.  B.,  v.  275-276,  336. 

Sandwich,  Mass.,  Insane  women  at,  301-302. 

San  Domingo,  323-331. 

Santo  Domingo,  the  country,  325-331  ;  the  city,  327. 

Santo  Domingo,  Annexation  of,  proposed,  323  ;  defeated,  325. 

Schmidt  (Prussian  officer),  94. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  347-348. 

Shelley,  the  poet,  24 ;  Records  of  Byron  (and  quoted),  49. 

Shore,  family  name  of  Florence  Nightingale,  177. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  259,  261-262,  275,  321, 

Smith,  Sydney,  180. 

South  Boston,  home  of  Dr.  Howe,  120-121,  159.  i73~I74.  iSo. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  285. 


INDEX.  369 

Stearns,  George  Luther,  252,  258,  272-273,  275,  283,  290. 

Stekoulis,  Elias  (Greek  captain),  318. 

Stone,  William  L.,  Letter  of  Dr.  Howe  to,  163-165. 

Story,  Joseph,  113,  209. 

Stuart,  Gilbert  (painter),  25. 

Suliotes,  29,  74-75. 

Sumner,  Charles,  30,  189,  209-210,  212,  217,  223,  247,  251-252, 

290,  323,  325,  328-329,  331,  334, 
Switzerland,  Dr,  Howe  in,  86,  310. 

Taylor,  Edward  T.  ("  Father  Taylor"),  171. 

Taylor,  Zachary  (President,  1849-50),  232-35. 

Tennessee  (steam  vessel),  324. 

Tennyson,  Alfred  (quoted),  281. 

Tewksbury  State  Almshouse,  337. 

Texas,  its  annexation,  IV.,  191-210. 

Ticknor,  George,  20,  113,  173,  192. 

Tiffany,  Francis,  His  life  of  Mrs.  Dix,  282. 

"  Times,"  London,  320. 

Transcendentalists  and  the  Dial,  113. 

Trelawny,  Edward  John,  24-25,  36-44,  47-49. 

Tricoupi,  Spiridion,  84,  186;  Charilaos,  186,  310. 

Tripolitza,  in  Arcadia,  55,  81. 

Trustees  of  the  Blind  Asylum,  98,  119,  131,  135. 

Turks  repulsed,  30,  34,  37  ;  their  cruelty  in  Crete,  309,  317,  321. 

Ulysses,  or  Odysseus  (Greek  chieftain),  24,  36-39,  41-42, 
Urquhart  David  (Philhellene),  66,  79. 

Van  Buren,  Martin  (President),  192,  197. 

Vigilance  Committee  in  Boston,  226,  236,  246. 

Villages  in  the  Peloponnesus,  in  Crete,  317. 

Village  life  for  the  insane,  in  Belgium,  297-301. 

Virginia,  its  gentlemen,  189;  (mentioned)  200,  226,244,  254,  264. 

Vistula  River,  88,  92. 

Votsaris,  pronunciation  of  Botzaris,  74. 


370 


INDEX. 


Wade,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Senator,  323. 

Waltham,  new  site  of  the  Idiot  School,  169. 

Ward,  Miss  Julia  (See  Howe,  Julia  Ward). 

Washington  (the  city),  187,  193,  284,  322. 

Washington,  George  (mentioned),  121  ;  opposes  slavery,  204. 

Webster,  Daniel   (see  "Daniel  Webster"),  iv.,   113,  172-173, 

187,  199,  281,  353. 
Webster,  John  White,  22. 
Weed,  Thurlow,  224,  232-233. 
Wheelwright,  Henry  Blatchford,  324. 
Whitcombe,  a  young  Englishman,  36-49. 
White,  Andrew  Dickson,  323. 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf  (mentioned),  30;  (quoted)  vn.,  30-32. 
Willis,  Nathaniel  Parker  (mentioned),   112-113;  (quoted)  122. 
Wilson,  Henry,  Senator,  333. 

Winthrop,  Robert  Charles,  190,  193,211,  230,  248-249. 
Wise,  Henry  A.,  of  Virginia,  192. 
Wright,  Elizur  (quoted),  267-268. 


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